Militat Omnis Amans, Every Lover is a Warrior
by kbeckett
Summary: Willow and Buffy are called to perform demon disposal on a different? world. Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. If this offends, do not read.
1. Dum Vivimus Vivamus

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy etal. Everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ivy, Sam and Bill for their input and suggestions into this while it was still a work in progress; you helped me out of several plot jams. Thanks to my significant other for all of her patience and perseverance. Thanks to my family for putting up with my not being around for great lengths of time. And finally to everyone who read and commented on the draft of this work, their input was more than valuable, it kept me writing.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter I - Dum Vivimus Vivamus

(Let's Live While We're Alive)

Darkness, with a cold North breeze coming down from the Artic, chilling the February air, was not a pleasant, or particularly safe, time to be out in the town of Sunnydale California. The glow from the street lamps lining the pathways through the UC Sunnydale campus did not penetrate very far since the night sky was a light absorbing black caused in part to the low heavy overcast.

"Damn," thought the redheaded girl walking quickly across campus to her dorm room. "Its four hours to midnight and with this sky, and with the moon being nearly new, I'll have to trust my instincts and the clock for the timing of the second part of tonight's ritual."

Watching from the near-by shrubbery was shadowy, indistinct figure, definitely human in appearance, but moving far more silently through the woods than a human could. With a primal roar it leaped from the bushes towards Willow.

"Ah, damn!" she exclaimed turning towards the fully morphed vampire. "Fifteen minutes from the dorm and now I'm going to waste precious time dealing with you!"

This definitely was not the reaction that the newly risen, and hungry, vampire was expecting, and he figured out pretty quick that his initial plan of attack, eat and leave quietly wasn't going to work any more. So with typical single mindedness he decided to change his plan to attack, eat and just leave.

"Little girl, you are lunch!" He screamed jumping towards Willow.

"That's what you think, fangy," Willow quipped as she sidestepped the vampire's initial attack and quickly brought her hands up into a warding gesture.

"Soilshey ny greiney!" Willow shouted and drew her hands apart.

There was a sudden explosion of light between her hands, which quickly formed into a ball that she then cast towards the startled vampire.

"Eat sunshine ass-hole!" She yelled as the ball of light enveloped the vampire and he began to scream from the flames that were merrily burning his flesh.

A few moments later, there was nothing left of the former bloodsucker but a small pile of smoking ash, and a dancing ball of sun light.

Willow stared, stunned, at the results of her work while quickly whispering "ec kione" to collapse her spell back into the elemental realm she drew it from, before it began to draw attention to her and her activities.

"Damn," she exclaimed, exhausted from the energy required for the spell.

"I love it when something works right the first time."

"Well, it looks like you don't really need me anymore," a muscular blond figure said; quietly leaving the woods where she had been watching the preceding events and joining Willow on the path.

"Buffy!" Willow exclaimed, "Need, I do, definitely, need, but you not here, vampire here, spell new..."

"Willow, I was just joking," she said, drawing the other girl into a close embrace and whispering into her ear, "I know that you will always need me." With her fingers softly caressing the cheek of her closest friend and lover she added, "and I trust, always want me."

"Of course, I need, and want you," the redhead whispered back turning her lips towards the other's soft lips for a passionate kiss.

"Ah, that was just the energy restorer I was looking for, "Willow exclaimed as she broke away from the kiss after a couple of heart stopping minutes.

"How did your patrol go?" She asked as the two of them began to walk hand in hand to their room.

"Not bad, one old-time demon and two other newby vamps aside from the one you disposed of, "Buffy replied, mentally re-hashing the evening so far.

"A pretty typical evening then in the demon disposal business then," Willow replied keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the object of her love.

"Yep, same old same old," Buffy answered, sensing Willow's gaze on her and avoiding the temptation to return it by keeping a sharp lookout for other potential, lethal, night time distractions.

"Speaking of vamp removal, that's a pretty powerful new spell you have there at your disposal witch-girl."

Willow stopped walking and sat down on a near-by bench. "You're right, Buffy. I've been working on this type of spell for a while now, but I didn't expect it to work as well as it did."

"What did you expect would happen?" Buffy asked as she sat down beside her friend.

"Well, I was hoping that the spell would go off, and distract the vamp long enough so that I could run to safety."

"Good plan Willow, but?"

"But, as I cast the spell, I felt an enormous collection of energy being drawn towards me, and somehow I suddenly knew that the spell would be far more powerful than I thought." Willow paused and though for a moment. "Its been happening a lot recently," she added softly.

"What's that?"

"It's just that my spells have been getting a lot stronger lately, ever since... "

"Ever since what?"

"Well, you know, since...," she whispered.

"Give it up witch, since when?" Buffy prodded, having already figured out the reason for herself, but wanting to hear it from her soul mate.

"You know, since Christmas."

"Ah," the blond exclaimed, "since you and I took our relationship to the next level, so to speak."

"Yeah, since then, so to speak, in addition I guess to my becoming a 3rd degree witch at the Solstice."

"Speaking of witch business, what were you doing out on campus? Weren't you supposed at your parents getting ready for the big event later?"

"Oh my Goddess!" Willow said bolting from the bench and grabbing Buffy by the hand, "time, no-time talk, herbs and stuff, dorm, robes, stuff, got to get going..."

"Slow down Will," Buffy said smiling at her friend as she was being willingly dragged down the path, "we still have a few hours to go yet."

--------------------------------

About a half-hour later, one very flustered witch and one very amused slayer looked around their dorm room. It had the appearance of having survived, barely, a close encounter with a hurricane, the hurricane in this case being a frantic Willow.

"Ok, double check time, you have my list Buffy?" Willow said in a panic while looking though a massive tote bag.

"Right here lover."

"Ok, read off the items to me."

"Okey, dokey, smooches toy, - item the first - robes."

"Check. And stop being so, so flippant, even though I love the sentiment attached to it"

"Ok, holding onto the flippancy, - item two - purification herbs and oils."

"Check," holding out several bags of herb like substances and small bottles of essential oils.

"You mean we have to bathe in those? Icky," the slayer said, screwing up her face into weird contortions.

"Yep, you'll love it, very good for the skin, on with the list."

"If you insist, item three - wand."

"Check."

"Item four - candles."

"Check," holding out eight pure beeswax candles.

"Item five - sword."

"Check - I know it's at home, I brought it over earlier tonight."

"Items six and seven - purified water and salt."

"Check - also at home."

"Ok then, that only leaves the last item - chalk."

"Right here," she said holding out a bag full of multi-coloured chalk.

"Lets go! Everything else I need, that's not on the list, is at home," Willow quickly repacked all of the items in her tote bag and slinging it over her shoulder headed out the door. "Hurry up Buffy, and don't forget to lock the door."

"I'm coming, hold on to your horses, Willow."

"You aren't even breathing hard," Willow quipped back as she headed down the hall to the stairs.

"What was that you said about flippancy?" Buffy exclaimed as she hurried after her.

-------------------------------

Later that evening, they arrived in front of Willow's parent's home. It was a bright beacon of light in the gloomy night since there was a lit candle in all of the windows in addition to all of the lights in the house being on.

"This is ok with your parents?" Buffy asked as they went in the house.

"Yep, they're cool. They know what I am, what we mean to each other and what we are going to do tonight," Willow replied as she walked into the living room and saw that the other members of her coven were already there. "Hi all!" She addressed the assembled witches in the room, receiving answering nods and hellos in return. "Hi Mom! Sorry we're running so late," she said to her mother who was just bringing in more snacks to replenish the empty platters on the coffee table.

"In fact," she continued over her shoulder to Buffy who was still in the foyer, "my dad helped with my work-room in the basement. He levelled the floor and installed all of the slate and the wood floor and wall panels."

"Cool," the slayer replied, "nice to have understanding parents."

"Yep, its great to have a pair of nice Jewish Pagans in the family," Willow replied, as she dropped her tote bag on the floor and began to take items out of it. "Mom even lit all of the candles in the windows for me tonight at dusk," she said, smiling at her mom who was heading back to the kitchen.

"That was really nice of her," Buffy replied, also smiling and waving hello to Willow's mother, as she joined the group in the living room, settling down on the floor since there were no chairs left.

"Yeah. Will, what's the deal with the burning wax anyway?" Asked one of the assembled witches who was sprawling over a good portion of the sofa with snack crumbs liberally covering his t-shirt.

"Well Xander," the redheaded witch replied, without looking up or stopping what she was doing, "if you had done any of your studying, you would have remembered that since tonight is the festival of light returning, and since the Goddess in her incarnation as the young maiden Goddess presides over the day and the festival, and since in that incarnation she is the Goddess of light, healing, poetry and smith craft we burn the candles in her honour and to bring forward the hope for Spring in the darkness of Winter."

"Oh." The dark-haired apprentice witch replied crestfallen and returned to his previous occupation of trying to eat all of the snacks Willow's mom had put out on the coffee table without anyone else noticing.

"I told you to do the work, dummy," his girlfriend Anya stage-whispered to him, while surreptitiously feeding him more cheese and crackers.

Swiftly standing up, Willow looked over her assembled friends, some of whom like Xander, Anya and Giles she had known since High School and others she had only met since starting university. She was very nervous; since this would be the first time she had led so many in a ritual as the High Priestess.

"Ok folks," she said, addressing her coven.

"Let's get to work folks. There is a lot to do before we start, and only a little time left to do it in."

"Right boss," a petite brunet replied standing up with the rest, "what do we do first?"

"Well Carol," Willow replied, "first we all need to take the ritual baths with the herbs and oils I've brought."

"Then, we all need to robe and make our way down to the work area." She continued as she handed packages of herbs, bottles of oil and robes to several members of the group.

"Lets go everyone," the former watcher stated as he received his package from Willow, "I'm assuming boys in one room, girls in another?"

"Yep, I hate to spoil everyone's fun, but with time pressing we will have to wait till later for jollies and smooches," Willow replied slightly red-faced. "Don't forget to say your blessings as you bathe and dress," Willow called out as the group began to head out of the living room.

"We won't mother!" called out several of the witches as the group separated with Giles, Xander and the other five men heading to the upstairs bath and Anya, Carol and the other four women heading to the other bathroom leaving Willow and Buffy alone for the moment in the living room. As soon as the others had left the room Willow collapsed to the floor shaking un-controllably.

"Willow! What's wrong?" Buffy asked rushing to her and wrapping her strong arms around the trembling redhead.

"It's, it's just that..."

"What lover?

"It's just that this is the first time I'll lead alone, and the first time since Brightstar left go back to Chicago, and I want everything to be perfect and special and..." Willow continued breathlessly.

"Will, it's going to be ok, honest," Buffy reassured her. "You've done everything you can, we all are going to help, and we all trust and love you."

Buffy began to softly massage the other's tense shoulder and back muscles as she gently kissed the neck of her friend. "Lie down for a second, and let me work out the kinks in your back." She whispered as she gently, but firmly pushed Willow to the carpet.

"But, we have no time, we have to get ready Buffy," Willow weekly protested.

"Chill, dear," replied her lover as she continued to work on the muscles in Willow's back, "the others will be bathing and dressing for at least the next twenty minutes. More than enough time to work some of the tenseness out of you. After all, if you are tense you might make a boo-boo or two."

"Boo-boo's are definitely a no-no," the other replied as she admitted defeat to the other's firm fingers by closing her eyes and starting to relax her tense body.

For the next few minutes, neither woman said anything as Buffy continued her soft massage, slowly working her way down Willow's back. Finally, after hearing the noise of the others working their way down to the basement, she stopped her ministrations and drew the other up from the floor into a gentle hug. "Its, time sweetie," she said as she gently kissed the other.

"I know," she replied, "let's grab our stuff and go get naked and wet."

"Willow!" Buffy exclaimed in mock shock, "I thought that we were going to do that later."

"Stop it," Willow said smiling, as she gave the slayer a mock punch on the arm.

"You know what I meant."

"I know, but it's nice to see you smiling."

With that, the two friends headed to the bath to start their preparations for the nights work.

---------------------------------

A short while later the two lovers assembled with the rest of the group in the basement of Willow's parent's house. A portion of it had been recently transformed by her efforts, with the able assistance of her father and her former teacher Brightstar, into an area suitable for her to do her rituals and other work. A large area of about 30 square meters had been sectioned off from the rest of the basement and walls had been raised creating an octagonal workroom. The concrete floor had been taken up in the area to reveal the earth underneath and then slate and wood pieces had been laid on the earth in a complex interwoven parquet pattern. In addition, the eight walls had slate and wood panels hung on them. The area was brightly lit with four-armed candelabras on four of the walls; there was no unnatural lighting used at all.

The group was waiting for Willow dressed in the ritual working robes that they had made from hand-woven cotton. Each robe had been embroidered in traditional Celtic patterns by its wearer, and reflected the personality of each member. The robes were tied in front of the members with a long white cord, some wrapped once around their body, others two or three times. The assembled coven wore no clothing, other than the robes, and none of them were wearing any jewellery. Buffy felt practically naked, the robe was very comfortable, but the lack of anything else other that the once wrapped rope holding the robe closed made her a little self-conscious. She had spent several nights since the Solstice embroidering her robe, using Willow as an aid for ideas and inspiration, in looking around at the other's robes she felt that she had done a fairly good job, certainly better than Xander's effort.

Willow moved into the room and with gestures and eye contact began to assemble the coven at one end of the room.

"Ok all, its about an hour to midnight, lets get started," she said as she sat down in an antique oak chair that was in front of an equally old desk and bookshelves placed at the South end of the room near the entrance. The other members took up places on the floor in front of their high priestess and waited expectantly. At this point, a large, grey and white, self-possessed feline wandered into the room, looked around and proceeded to jump up on Willow's lap, as if it was her rightful place. With a contented purr, it tucked its head down and proceeded to go to sleep. "Shadow-Cat, about time you showed up," Willow said stroking the cat and scratching it behind the ears.

Willow then turned to the group and began the nights work with the traditional "Blessed be" opening.

"Blessed be," replied all of the assembled witches.

"Even though most of you will have done your reading," Willow continued with a mock glare at Xander, "it is traditional in our path to spend some time discussing the work to be done, why we are doing it and what we are hoping to accomplish.

"Tonight is the festival of Imbolg which we also call Candlemas, Lady Day and Bridemas," Willow continued, launching into lecture mode.

"It is one of the four lunar festivals in our calendar, which are dedicated to the Goddess, in one of her incarnations," Willow looked up at Giles, "sorry Giles, you and Dagda are in the background tonight since the God is in his young boy aspect."

"That's ok Willow," the former watcher replied. "I'm happy to let you do all of the heavy early work. My part will come latter." He and Willow had discussed the nights schedule earlier in the day. Willow had been looking for reassurance that she hadn't forgotten anything, and Giles looking for reassurance that Willow was up to the challenge.

"The Mother Goddess has recovered from the Solstice birth of the Sun, and is being transformed into the maiden of spring," Willow continued with her lesson.

"As I told Giles the God is in his aspect as the young boy so most of his power is currently dormant. This is the traditional time of year for initiations and the renewal of vows, and we will be doing some of those later. It is the time to honour the Goddess for her gifts of healing, smithcraft, and poetry; these gifts represent the mysteries of renewal, transformation, and inspiration." Willow finished her mini-recap of the importance of the nights work.

"Ok, now for the work, she said, placing Shadow-Cat on the floor and standing up with the rest of the coven.

"First we get out the brooms, and perform the ritual cleansing of our work area, we will then prepare the circle and this room for tonight's work. Then, starting at midnight we will do the Imbolg ritual, with a slight modification. After that has been completed, I plan on conducting a number of initiations. Later we will have a second special ritual," Willow continued, feeling much stronger and focused now that she had started.

"What will the second ritual be for?" Asked a tall, blond witch.

"Well, it's for Buffy and me, Sam," Willow answered.

"How's that?"

"You all know that Buffy and I have committed ourselves to each other," Willow said, taking Buffy by the hand. "Well, this ritual is to commit our vows to each other and to set the stage for our hand-fasting at Beltane."

"Sounds good to me," replied another of the witches.

"Me too," said another.

"About time," Xander and Anya said simultaneously.

"What is the modification to the Imbolg ritual?" Asked a woman who was slightly older than the majority of the group. Like Willow, Giles and three others she had her cord wrapped three times around her body, signifying a 3rd degree witch.

"Well, Susan," Willow answered, "because of the second ritual, I'm going to have Buffy in the centre with Giles and me, even though as you all know, she isn't a witch."

"Hey, I'm an almost witch," Buffy retorted, "after all, you will be initiating me before our ritual tonight."

"Hey, its cool with me," Susan replied, "in fact, having Buffy in the centre, with her innate power, will probably help in raising the sphere."

With that the witches got to work, some collecting the ritual brooms for the cleansing of the work area, others to collect the candle stands for the quarters and others to ensure that all of the required tools were in place on the Altar.

"Ow!" Xander exclaimed, as he was wielding a broom over the work area, "these floors are cold on bare feet."

"Stop complaining and get working," Anya answered, while working her own broom. "You'll warm up once you get busy."

As soon as the floor had been swept Willow and Giles went quickly to work inscribing glyphs and other symbols on the walls and on the floor, using the chalk Willow had brought from her dorm.

Soon it was time for the real work of the night to begin. Willow called them to the circle, and forming them into the traditional male/female pairings at the cardinal points with the remaining four taking up their places between the compass points. She also took pains to balance the circle with experienced and less-experienced witches in each of the four quarters. Everyone, while taking their appropriate places, took great care to insure that they did not erase any of the chalk markings on the floor. Giles lit the candles on the four candle stands, as Buffy extinguished the candles on the walls. Willow lit the candles that were on the Altar and made one final check to insure that all of the working tools she would need were present. Giles, Buffy and Willow then took up their places in the centre of the circle.

Willow then started the coven in the ritual chants and breathing exercises, which were used to focus and ground them for the night's magic. In the effort to concentrate on what she was doing, Willow failed to notice a grey and white figure quietly enter the circle and take up residence under the Altar. When she sensed that the group was ready, she and Giles took the Sword, Salt and Water and cast the circle. When they had finished, she returned to the centre, and holding firmly onto Buffy's hand began to draw in the energy from herself, Buffy and her coven, to create the shields that would protect them, and the mundane world, from the power she was going to bring into the circle as part of the night's work. As had happened earlier in the evening, Willow noticed that she was drawing up a tremendous amount of energy.

"Oh boy," she thought to herself, "with this amount of energy to work with, I'll be able to handle anything that comes up tonight."

------------------------------------------

Interlude,

Another time, another place.

In a brightly lit room, several people, both male and female were sitting around an old oak table waiting for one of their members to return. The room was lit with candles and lanterns, and a merry fire was burning in a large fireplace that had been set into one of the stonewalls of the room. There were several tapestries hung on the walls and the stone floor was covered with rushes. Despite the fire, all of the room's occupants were clothed in heavy wool garments, several layers of them, and they all had heavy fur lined boots on. They were passing the time by reading from large tomes, eating and conversing quietly amongst themselves in small groups.

Suddenly the door swung open and a man, dressed liked the others, rushed in.

"Its time," he exclaimed, "I have felt the raising of power by the Chosen one."

"Can it be true, Grael?" asked one of the women in the room as she and all the others rose from the table and made ready to leave.

"Yes, Amana, for the first time I think we have a chance to bring over the one person who will be able to help us in our desperate struggle," Grael said as he gathered up some items from the table and headed back out the door. "But we must hurry; if she manages to finish the Invocations we won't have another chance for a long time, maybe forever!"

At that, he and all of the others left the room and headed down a long corridor. They entered another, larger, room which was very similar to the workroom in far off Sunnydale.

"Quickly, to your places," Grael said, "I've left a gate in the circle so that time is saved, once we are in, I'll re-seal it."

The group quickly arranged themselves into a working circle. Once all of them had taken their places Grael took a long-sword from the Altar and moved to the gate. As he said the ritual words "co-healal dorrys" to re-seal the circle blue flames chased up the blade of the sword. "Now, to work," he said, as he took his place along side Amana in the centre of the circle, "this woman is the most powerful person I've sensed in a long time, even if she has been poorly trained."

With that, the group began a complex, multi-part chant that soon had visible effects on the air in front of the Altar. A visible thickening of the air was happening as the group worked together to form a portal. Only this was going to be no ordinary portal, for their aim was to bridge the fast distances of space-time and dimensions to reach what they prayed would be their saviour.

Suddenly Grael let out a shout "dorrys brishey magh!" And with those words, a gaping hole appeared in the air before the Altar. The hole was rimed with blue fire and appeared to be without depth. "Now to cast out our plea for help," Grael said to the group.

As one, they shouted out, both mentally and orally their plea for assistance, "chosen one, help us! Save us from the demons that are killing our people!"

"Now we wait and prey she will answer us," Amana said quietly.

------------------------------------

Back in Sunnydale, Willow and Buffy were still holding hands as Willow was beginning the process of calling out the Invocations to the Guardians, when she felt a mental pressure on her mind. "Chosen one, help us..." Willow tried to brush off the thoughts, thinking that she was just tired, when the pressure returned, "Chosen one, help us! Save us from the demons that are killing our people!" Willow stopped what she was doing stunned. She had heard and read about telepathy, but she had never expected to experience it first-hand. Tentatively she replied mentally "who are you? And why do you need my help?"

"She replies," Amana shouted out to the group of mages before responding mentally, "we are plagued by all types of demons, and nothing we can do helps."

Willow thought for only a second about what she should do. She was consecrated to help others, and duty and honour bound to respond to those who asked. She swiftly came to a decision.

Tuning to the coven she said, "Giles, Susan, take over here, I've been called."

As soon as Susan entered the centre of the circle Willow passed over to her the web of power she had raised saying to her, "quickly Susan, as soon as I'm gone finish the ritual for tonight." Responding to Susan's questioning stare she said, "no time for questions and answers, we'll be back as soon as we can."

Mentally she then cried out, "we come," for she understood that if those who were calling her for help had demon problems, there was no one better than the slayer to help them.

"We?" Asked a bemused Grael.

"Don't ask questions!" Amana replied, "quickly all of us, the transfer spell."

With that, the group began another complex chant, which had its immediate results in Sunnydale.

"Quickly woman, you must activate the portal from your end," Grael sent mentally to Willow.

Willow knew, somehow, to call out the spell, "dorrys brishey magh," and suddenly in the middle of her workroom the gate appeared. Like its twin, it was rimmed with blue fire.

"It's ok Buffy," Willow said to a stunned slayer, "our help is needed elsewhere on demon disposal. Trust me." With those words, Willow took Buffy by the hand and walked into the portal.

As soon as they entered, the portal collapsed and disappeared.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting start to the evening," deadpanned Giles.

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Nothingness, pure-black without the hint of light, the two women travel though the dark without sensing their movement. Since without reference points, how can you measure speed and distance. Suddenly the black is pierced with a blue flame in the far distance, and the two women can now tell that they are moving swiftly towards it.

Quickly they are through the portal and tumbling to the floor, surrounded by chanting people in heavy robes. The temperature is bone-numbing cold, especially for someone wearing nothing but a cotton robe.

Buffy, innately able to quickly recover from just about anything took a quick look around the very unfamiliar room, turned to her lover and friend, and said quietly, "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

"Meow!!" Agreed a very confused Shadow-Cat.


	2. Amantes Sunt Amentes

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ivy, Sam and Bill for their input and suggestions into this while it was still a work in progress; you helped me out of several plot jams. Thanks to my significant other for all of her patience and perseverance. Thanks to my family for putting up with my not being around for great lengths of time. And finally to everyone who read and commented on the draft of this work, their input was more than valuable, it kept me writing.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter II - Amantes Sunt Amentes

(Lovers Are Lunatics)

"Damn, it's cold," thought the blond girl shivering on the floor. Buffy took another look around at her new surroundings. The room that she and Willow had arrived in was large, easily twice the size of the workroom from where they had just left. Candles and large torches lighted the room. In addition, there were four large fireplaces adding their heat and light to the room. Despite all of the fires, the room was cold, barely above the freezing mark. Buffy noticed that they were surrounded by at least twenty people standing in a dual circle, all dressed in heavy robes which had embroidery similar to the work on her robe.

"Quickly, get some blankets and boots," Amana said, "They will be freezing in this temperature."

With that, several things happened simultaneously. Grael quickly dispelled the portal with the words "dorrys skeaylley!" As other members of the group broke the circle, which allowed them to collect several heavy blankets, which they proceeded to wrap around the two shivering women who were in the centre of the work circle.

"Where are we? Who are you? What's going on? Shadow-Cat, what are you doing here?" babbled Willow as she was being wrapped in blankets with thick fur boots being shoved onto her feet.

"We will answer all of your questions," Amana replied as she finished putting the boots on Buffy's feet, "however, we need to get you warm and fed first. Come, we will adjourn to more comfortable surroundings." She then helped Buffy to her feet and indicated that they should leave the room.

The entire group left the workroom and headed back down the corridor to the study. The two travellers were given chairs in front of the fireplace and mugs of mulled wine were handed to them.

Two of the group proceeded to drag the table up to the fireplace and then had platters of meats, breads, sweets and cheeses placed in front of the two women. In addition, several pitchers of various beverages - ales, wines and ciders, were also placed on the table.

"Ok," Willow said a few minutes later, after having drunk half of her wine and beginning to feel warm for the first time since arriving. "Q&A time, deal us the skinny."

Buffy was quietly eating and drinking thinking to herself, "better let Willow deal with this, she is better on the witch stuff and she can fill me in later."

"Fair enough," Grael answered Willow, "where do you want to start?"

"I guess with introductions," Willow continued feeling strangely content in this extraordinary company. "After all," she thought, "they did ask for my help, I have no way of getting home without them, so I might as well deal. "My name is Willow," she said to the assembled group, "my companion's name is Buffy," she continued pointing out the slayer. "The cat that unexpectedly also came along is mine and is named Shadow-Cat, I guess she will show when she feels like it."

"Welcome, and well met," answered Grael, "my name is Grael, and this is Amana," he continued pointing her out. "We are the leaders of this group of mages and are the ones who lead the effort to bring you here to help us."

"Speaking of here, where are we?" Willow asked looking around closely, for the first time, at the room its furnishings and the lighting, "it looks very not modern here."

"Here is not a simple question Willow," replied Amana, "nor is when, if I can anticipate your next question. "Where we are is in the mage's wing of Castle Maldor. The castle is located in our capital city of Maldorstat. The building is modern in that we have plumbing, heat and a few other conveniences that you are used to. However, we do not have mechanical lighting sources, and only recently have we begun to develop steam based mechanisms." She continued, rising from the table and moving towards the other end, "Frankel here is our most senior sage and he will try to give you what we understand is happening," she said, standing behind an elderly man who had until that point been sitting quietly at the other end of the table.

"The simple answer is that you are still on Earth." Frankel said, rising from the table and taking up the conversation, "however, it is not your Earth, so to speak."

"That's the simple answer? I'd hate to have a complicated on," stated Buffy, speaking for the first time, and beginning to think that she was back in professor Walsh's psychology class.

"It has to do with multiple dimensions and differing realities between dimensions," continued the old sage, beginning to pace around the room. "We have determined that there are several Earths which occupy the same location in space time, however, they are layered on top of each other creating different realities or versions of the same place, your 'Earth' is one such reality and ours is another."

"Okay," replied Willow, "I've read something about this; however, I didn't think it was possible." She was beginning to feel a bit more comfortable about what was going on, now that she was starting to receive data.

"Only our great need has made it possible," replied Frankel. "My early researches determined that the 'layers' existed and later I was able to determine some of the basic characteristics of each."

"Such as," prompted Buffy.

"Well, such as the basic geology and atmosphere. The primary life forms and which of them were dominant; in addition to the general level of technology."

"Sounds like you were able to learn a lot," said Willow.

"I guess you're right," the sage continued, "I was also able to determine that there were major differences between the 'layers'; essentially, that the closer the layers were, the closer the various characteristics are. However, once you move significantly away from your home layer the differences become major."

"How major," Asked the slayer, she was now convinced that this guy was a male psychology professor, all talk and little answers.

"Different biology, life forms, climate and technology to name a few," he replied.

"Ok, I can deal with this so-far. But why us," asked Willow.

"I'll answer that in a few minutes," answered Grael, "however, there are a couple of points that I would like Frankel to finish up with first."

"Ok then, to finish," the sage continued, "In my research I determined that there were weak points between the layers, which potentially could allow communication or transport between them. Also, it appeared that some of the dominant species on some of the layers were able to innately use this transport ability." The sage paused to sip from his mug of wine, "in fact, I think that a large amount of what we call 'demons' on our worlds are in fact residents of one layer, who have transported to another," he finished sitting back down at the table.

"To continue," Said Grael, "in our investigations of your world, we determined that your reality had very few weak points at which demons and other evil characters appeared."

Buffy turned to Willow and said quietly, "the hell-mouth."

"We also sensed the great power that resided near one of these 'hell-mouths' as you call them and hopped that that person would be able to come to our assistance, even though they were very poorly trained," Grael finished, looking at Willow optimistically.

"Well, you have answered a number of questions, and raised a few more," Willow said, "however, you still haven't answered why me?"

"That is a bit easier to answer," Amana said, "for our world has a very large number of these hell-mouths, so many in fact that we are in danger of being over-run by demons from the other realities."

"These weaknesses have occurred relatively recently," added Grael, "what we think has happened is that the demons who are attacking us are somehow able to create the weaknesses, or at least expand upon them, and that they have been slowly moving from one reality to the next, devastating each in turn. Since our world is between them and you, they have not reached your reality in any great numbers yet. However, we believe that once they dispose of us, you will eventually be in the line of fire, since there are only about fifteen or so worlds between ours and yours."

"And as to why specifically you, Willow," continued Amana, "quite frankly, for all of the power that Grael and I have, we are nothing compared to the potential power that you will be able to wield."

"But, I'm new at this, I can barely do anything, I don't know very much and most of the time I fail," Willow said plaintively.

"We know this dear," Amana replied, "however, we are excellent teachers and we will ensure that you reach your full potential."

"But, what do you want me to do?"

"Simply, to seal all of the weaknesses between our world and theirs," answered Grael.

"Oh."

"I'm beginning to think that details can wait till tomorrow," Amana said. "Let's let them finish eating and then we will see about accommodations for Willow and her soul-mate."

"Soul-mate," Buffy exclaimed, "how did you know Willow and I were soul-mates?"

"For one that knows how, it's easy to see the psychic link between you," Amana answered, "soon you to will be able to see these things," she added cryptically.

"Now, we know your name, but who are you and why did Willow bring you?" Amana continued as she quickly changed the subject.

"I'm the slayer," replied Buffy, and seeing questioning looks from the others continued, "don't tell me that you don't have slayers? The counsel? General medieval stuffiness and prophecies?"

"No," answered Grael, "but why don't you fill us in."

"Well, in our reality we have a Watchers Counsel whose job it is to train slayers and to provide guidance to them. In addition, they maintain records of various prophecies and other files with respect to demons and other evil things," Buffy said.

"And," prompted Grael.

"I'm a slayer," answered Buffy, "I was a chosen one and trained to fight demons, particularly vampires. I have special talents and abilities - for example I am able to sense demons, I heal very quickly and I'm very strong and fast."

"Excellent," interjected Frankel, as he became very animated, "I've read about so-called slayers in our past, however, the last of them was eliminated years ago, we must talk about this further."

"Oh, boy," thought Buffy, "not another professor Walsh, worse, another Giles."

Willow meanwhile was beginning to yawn, and drowse off. Amana caught sight of this and said, "Enough for tonight, let's get these two off to their baths and to bed. We can finish up our discussions in the morning."

Amana led Buffy and Willow out of the room and down the hallway. They climbed a flight of stairs to another hall, which had a number of doors off of it. "This is where we have our accommodations while we are in the capital," Amana said, "most of us spend the majority of our time in other locations, however, we were all brought together for this project."

"In anticipation of your agreeing to come, we have arranged for you to have a room, I trust that you won't mind sharing, since we weren't really expecting Buffy," she asked with a smile in her eyes.

She opened one of the doors into a fairly large room. In fact, it was a suite of rooms. The rooms were all very well lit with several lanterns in addition to fireplaces. The wooden floors were covered in thick carpets and thick tapestries covered most of the walls. Several large windows were set into the thick stonewalls and were covered with heavy embroidered curtains.

"This is your sitting room," stated Amana, "the room to the right is your bed-chamber, and the one to the left is the bath."

She continued leading the way to the bathroom that was very well appointed with sinks, a toilet and was dominated by a very large bathtub. This bathtub was easily the largest that either Buffy or Willow had ever seen. It was at a minimum a metre deep and could easily sit four. It was set directly into the floor, with only the top thirty centimetres or so above the floor line. Buffy could see that tilled benches were lining the inside of the tub, which raised the possibility of serious lounging time in the tub. Steam was rising from the water.

Amana continued, "The water is very hot, fed by springs deep beneath the building, we have lots of it, so we constantly have it circulating though the baths so that dirt and grime is carried away and fresh water brought in. There is soap, towels and necessities, over here," she said pointing out a dressing table and cupboards.

"We will arrange to have clothing sent up to you in the morning, and there is plenty of bed linen and warm blankets for tonight already in your bedchamber."

"Okay then," she asked, receiving nods in return, "we will let you sleep a bit late, since there is only about five hours till dawn. I'll come up to get you and we will continue with our discussions."

At this point a very satisfied looking grey and white feline walked into the room and proceeded to jump up on the table and began to groom herself.

"Shadow-Cat," exclaimed Willow, "where have you been?"

"Meooww," answered the cat.

"Out exploring I guess," replied Buffy.

"Checking out the resident pest problem probably," Willow agreed.

"Good-night then," replied Amana, "I'll see you in the morning." She turned and left the suite, closing the door behind her.

As soon as Amana had left, Buffy turned to her friend and lover saying, "witch girl, you've got some serious explaining to do."

"Buffy, I know, but please can it wait till later," Willow said as she went over to the bath and began to undress in preparation for getting in.

"Okay," the slayer replied, "I'm too tired to worry about it now. Let's bathe and get to bed," she continued, removing the blankets that were wrapped around her body and sitting down to take off the boots.

Soon both women were undressed and in the water sitting on the benches at opposite ends of the huge tub. Buffy looked over at Willow and was once again stunned by her beauty, grateful that they had found each other and that they had acknowledged their love. She moved over to the other woman and slowly began to caress her neck and shoulders. "Mmm, that feels nice," Willow said, sighing and relaxing into the others touch.

"Shush don't say anything, just go with the flow," the slayer responded as she began to stimulate Willow's breasts and nipples with the tips of her fingers, which immediately began to harden from the slayer's activities. Buffy continued performing her special magic on Willow's nipples as she also began to kiss the neck and shoulders of her lover.

Willow was beginning to feel the effects of Buffy's touch, and kisses, deep inside of her body. She raised Buffy's head up from her neck and kissed her, surrendering her mind and body into the kiss by focusing all of her attention to it. Their tongues duelled together as each women tried her hardest to explore the others mouth.

"Bath, soap, wash, we've got to wash," Willow babbled after a few minutes of deep kissing.

"Good idea," the other replied, "rubbing soap on soft body parts sounds like fun to me."

Willow picked up the bar of soap and quickly created lather, she then proceeded to gently wash Buffy, making slow gentle motions over her body, focusing particular attention to her chest and belly. Soon she moved her hands and the soap lower on Buffy's body, making tentative, darting, even teasing moves towards her sex.

"Stop that," Buffy exclaimed, "you are getting me too wet."

"You're in the bath," Willow said quietly as she continued her assault, "You're supposed to be wet."

"Then stop teasing me and finish the job," Buffy demanded.

"Your wish is my command," Willow responded and proceeded to move her hand between Buffy's legs and began a direct assault on her lover's sex.

Buffy was beginning to break out into a sweat, as she was beginning to peak to orgasm, and she wanted it to be mutual with Willow. She therefore proceeded to caress Willow's pubic mound, and tentatively massaged her clit while inserting a finger deep inside of her. Buffy was pleased to discover that Willow's skin was glowing, more that the hot water alone would explain and that her breath was beginning to come in short shallow gasps.

Willow moaned deeply into Buffy's neck. She had already been at a high level of excitement and Buffy's probing fingers deep inside of her were beginning to push her over the edge. Both women continued their respective assaults, and within moments, both had powerful simultaneous orgasms.

"Goddess, that is exactly what I needed," panted Willow, "I trust you feel the same lover," as she proceeded to embraced her friend in a hug.

"Oh, yeah. Quite a fine way to relax," Buffy said near breathlessly, as she reciprocated the hug, while searching out and finding Willow's mouth for another deep passionate kiss.

After a few minutes the women moved apart. "Come on love, it's been one hell of a day," Willow said as she began to wash her hair. "Let's finish up here and get some sleep."

"No problemo," Buffy added as she to began to wash her hair, "I think tomorrow is going to be even more strange than tonight was."

Within the hour there were two women intertwined on their bed in a deep sleep. A very contented cat then leaped up on the pile of heavy blankets that covered the two women, and took up residence on the pillow behind Willow's head.

"Purrrrr," came deep from the cat as she thought, "my tummy is full, this is not my normal territory, however, my human is here so I am happy."

------------------------------------

Elsewhere in the castle, others were not yet sleeping. Grael, Amana, Frankel and a couple of other people were sitting around the long table in the study, deep in conversation.

"I think that this is going to work out fine," Grael said to the group, "she is young, strong and incredibly powerful."

"I agree," commented Amana, "she appears to have taken everything about tonight's activities well. No panic and no fit of hysteria."

"The slayer is an unexpected bonus," interjected Frankel, "having one with her abilities may prove to be the deciding factor."

"That's true," replied Grael, "she also has an unbelievable amount of strength and power, and if we can link the two together..."

"Yes," asked another member of the group.

"Well, it could mean our certain salvation," answered their leader.

"That speculation can wait till later," Amana said as she took up pen and paper, "let's confirm what we need to accomplish in the next few days."

"We need to finish briefing them," answered Grael, "and then we will have to assess Willow's training in greater detail. I think that we will also want to begin to train Buffy also."

"But," interjected Frankel, "I want to work with her, get more details on slayers, and slaying. Maybe have her train others."

"I agree with you Frankel," replied Grael, "however, in addition to that, she is going to need to be trained in her other abilities, certainly not to the level of Willow, but she is going to need those skills."

"That is certainly true," continued Amana, "I think that a certain amount of cross-training for both of them is in order. We should arrange to give Willow some fighting practice; after all, she will not always have time for her magic."

"I hate to interject but...," said another member of the group who had been silent up to now. Unlike the others he was dressed in form fitting, padded, clothing and had a battle hardened and scarred face. He was the garrison commander for the castle and had primary responsibility for the safety of the mages when they were in residence.

"What's that Daithi," asked Frankel.

"Well, it's just that if we are talking about cross-training and other things, we had better use our time wisely," Daithi replied.

"Why," replied Grael.

"My sources have begun to report that the opposition is gathering strength and may be poised for a major strike at the capital."

"We will discuss this further tomorrow, Daithi," replied Amana, "however, if we want to be able to get anything done in the morning, we have to get some sleep in what is left of the night." And with that, she said her goodnights and headed off to her suite.

Other members of the group also decided to turn in, and finishing off their various beverages they headed to their respective. All except the commander, who remained behind to have another mug of ale.

"Time," he thought, "how much time do we have before evil falls over the land for good?"

--------------------------------------

In a different location, hundreds of kilometres from the activities going on in the castle, was another stronghold. Unlike Castle Maldor the buildings were shrouded in darkness for no lights were visible from any of the few openings that pierced the thick stonewalls. Inside it was dark and unpleasant the temperature matching the sub-zero outside air. Several different beings inhabited the building and none were overtly friendly to humankind.

Suddenly the atmosphere was punctured by a blood-curdling scream.

"What in the name of the Chaos Gods do you mean you don't know?"

Striding down a corridor was an immense figure, with blood red skin, yellow eyes and sporting three horns. It turned towards another being, which was practically running to keep up, and continued. "I told you to find out what those blighted mages were up to. You know that my ability to see inside of that damned castle is very inadequate at the best of times and now that all of them are in residence it is totally impossible."

"I know master," the other creature replied. This one appeared to be a human male of middle age, "but nothing I've done is generating answers."

"I don't care who or what you have to maim, torture, kidnap or kill - but find me the answers, and find them fast," the master said punctuating its statements with pointed jabs from its claw tipped fingers, "or else I'll be using your entrails to do my divining." With that, the demon turned and left the corridor through a nearby door.

The humanoid shivered to his bones thinking to himself, "I've got to get some answers, or get out of here."

Turing around he spotted a small, green frog like figure and yelled out, "Kratel, get your webbed feet over here now!"

"Yes, master," the small imp like creature replied.

"You heard our terrible master. I need answers, but fast," the humanoid continued as he and the imp returned back down the passageway, "put together a raiding party, five or so in addition to yourself, and get into that accursed castle and get me a couple of victims so that I can torture some answers out of them."

"We will depart at once master," answered the imp.

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Buffy woke the next morning at her usual time of just before dawn thinking to herself, "damn, not even in the same reality and my slayer senses still get me up at dawn."

She realized that she was entangled with Willow with their arms and legs intertwined. Feeling a warm spot above Willow's head she thought, "well, Shadow-Cat must be off looking for her breakfast, I guess I had better get my day going."

Moving slowly and carefully so not to wake her lover she got out of bed, only to realize that other than her ritual robe and some blankets, she still did not have anything to wear. It was cold in the room, but not freezing, obviously someone had been in to re-build the fires.

"Oh, well," the slayer thought, "it's not as if Willow hasn't seen me naked before, and I certainly don't want to wear my robe to do my exercises."

Buffy went into the sitting room and spotted an agitated cat reaching up and scratching at the door.

"You want out, don't you girl," Buffy asked as she opened the door. Shadow-Cat meowed back to the slayer and bolted out of the room.

"We are going to have to arrange for a cat-door and other kitty things if we are here much longer," thought Buffy.

After quickly creating a free space in the room, by moving carpets away from the floor, and pushing some of the furniture towards the walls, Buffy began her morning routine. She spent a dozen minutes doing careful warm-up exercises and then spent about twenty minutes stretching out her muscles. Once she had warmed-up properly, and having done the required stretching, she moved into the serious portion of her morning workout. Buffy, having had no formal, early, slayer training did not use the council's particular workout routine, rather she used a combination of Aikido and Karate katas which she and Giles had augmented to suit her particular requirements.

After twenty minutes or so she was beginning to feel relaxed and the sweat was beginning to run off of her body. Earlier, while doing her warm-up, Buffy had noticed an old broom by the door, which she had used for several of her stretching routines. She now broke off a four-foot section of it while thinking, "this will do until I find a replacement." With that thought she then launched into a series of Kendo exercises concentrating on her thrusting attacks and her defensive speed.

Buffy was being watched. Willow had woken up shortly after Buffy had started her katas and was enjoying watching the slightly erotic display of a nude slayer exercising which was being put on for her benefit, even though un-knowingly. In fact, she was beginning to become just a wee bit aroused by the display.

Willow was familiar with Buffy's routine, having watched it several times, albeit with a fully clothed slayer. Just as Buffy was finishing up the last of her kendo routines she said, "Meow that looks yummy."

"What," exclaimed the startled slayer, "Will, I thought you were still asleep. Just how long have you been watching me?"

"Oh, about thirty minutes or so," Willow said smiling, "I would never dream of disturbing you at your exercise," she continued with an impish grin.

"And may I assume that you received no, vicarious, pleasure from watching my activities," Buffy asked as she grabbed a towel and headed back into the bedroom.

"Who, me," answered Willow, trying her best to look innocent.

"Up now, slouch," Buffy said as she proceeded to pull the blankets off the protesting occupant.

"No, too cold, you come back to bed," protested the redhead.

"Nope, sloth-girl," Buffy answered, as she continued her assault on the blankets, "Time to rise, shine and bathe. If you are lucky and ask nice, I just might let you wash my back though," she said as she left the room heading for the bath.

"Oh, goody, may I please," said Willow, as she jumped out of bed,

"oh, cold, goosy bumpies," she yelped, as she quickly ran to grab some of the blankets from the night before.

"Morning love," the hacker said as she moved into the bathroom and hugged the slayer from behind as she was in the process of gathering the soap and shampoo for their bath.

"Sleep well," she asked as she tuned Buffy around so that she would be able to snag her good-morning kiss.

"Yep, how about you," the slayer replied returning, with vigour, the kiss.

"Not bad, weird dreams, though," Willow replied testing the water, "oh, goody-goody, hot," and proceeded to jump into the bath.

"What do you mean weird," asked a suddenly concerned slayer, as she too entered the water.

"Well, just strange images, and vague uneasy feelings, like I've experienced this reality before or something," Willow answered as she began to get to work with soap, "turn around Buff, you promised me back."

Buffy complied with the mock order from Willow saying, "Well I didn't exactly promise, but you have been good."

"How good," bantered back the redhead.

"Very," replied Buffy, "by the way," the blond continued, "you know that what you did last night was nuts, right?"

Willow said nothing as she continued to wash Buffy's back.

"I mean, off you go - dragging me and a cat with you, into an unknown portal in the middle of a ritual, answering no questions."

"Hey, I didn't mean to bring the cat," Willow responded, "and, I had no real choice Buffy, I'm supposed to help those who ask. I'm almost compelled to go."

"Okay, its all water under the bridge anyway," the slayer replied, "I just hope that these folks can get us home."

"Oh, I think so," Willow replied, "besides, I'm dieing to see what Giles's reaction was."

"Well, I can guarantee, whatever his reaction, he wasn't speechless," answered Buffy.

The two women spent the next few minutes washing themselves, and each other. Things were just beginning to heat up from their activities when they heard a knocking at the door.

"Damn," Willow said extracting her hands from several of Buffy's sensitive spots, "just when things were starting to get interesting.

"Come-in," she yelled to the door giving Buffy a quick kiss as she left the tub and grabbed a towel. She turned to her lover and said, "We will definitely finish this later."

Willow went into the sitting room to great Amana and two other women who had arrived with several items. Principle amongst them was several items of clothing.

"I hope you slept well," asked the mage, "and I trust you are rested and are ready for what looks to be a very busy day," she continued as she and the other ladies laid out the several items of clothing.

"We have brought several items of clothing for you," she said, pointing out the robes, dresses and other apparel, "we have also brought under-clothing and other toiletries for the two of you."

"Thank-you," replied Willow as she proceeded to look over the various items of underwear and finding that all of the items were in their sizes. "I think however, that Buffy is going to need clothing that isn't a dress," she continued not seeing anything resembling pants in the pile.

"We know," replied Amana, "however, since I understand that Buffy will need to be fitted for armour, albeit leather armour, she can wear the clothes that we have brought here in the meantime."

"These will be fine," said the slayer as she emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body, "just so long as the clothes are warm, I'll be happy," she continued joining Willow in choosing appropriate underwear and other garments.

"Wait," Amana said, as the two travellers were starting to dress, by dropping their towels, figuring that modesty was definitely going to lose out to warmth, "I have brought Aiofe and Bridie along to be your assistants." Amana said as she pointed out the two other women. Aiofe was tall and dark-haired, while her companion was a little shorter than Willow. Both women had pale complexions and deep jade-green eyes.

"But, we don't need help to dress," Willow complained, "after all we have been doing it ourselves since we were small."

"It's not that you need help dear," explained Amana, "however, two persons as powerful as you and Buffy are required to have assistance as part of your station in our society. Others you will come in contact with will not give you the respect that you deserve if you do not have the symbols of your rank and position."

"Oh," exclaimed Buffy as Bridie began to help her to dress, with Aiofe performing the same task for Willow, "will they cut our food and help us to eat also?"

"No, that they won't do," replied Amana with a smile in her eyes, "however, they will serve your food and keep your suite tidy."

"That will help," replied Willow as she tried to come to grips with the situation.

Within minutes, the two women were dressed and were heading out of their suite. Amana led them down two fights of stairs to a large room, which was obviously a dining hall. Like the other rooms in the castle it had thick stonewalls. Several heavy oak beams spanned the hall, forming the support structure for the roof. The floors were thick pegged oak boards, and there were a number of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

"This is where we will break our fast," she said leading them to three chairs; "after we have eaten we will retire back to the study and continue our conversation of last night."

The serving girls with several platters of fresh fruit, breads, cheeses, yoghurts and beverages, quickly filled the table in front of them. The three women quickly fell to eating.

----------------------------------

Later they returned to the study area, which had already begun to fill with the other mages. The women took the same places that they had the night before. After allowing everyone time to greet each other, Grael stood up to continue the discussions from the previous night.

"I trust that you will want to know what we have planned," he said starting the conversation, "we have gone ahead and made some preliminary plans, which we will discuss with you, however, I would prefer to continue discussing our present situation first."

"That sounds ok to me," replied Willow, "I do have a number of questions."

"Well, ask away."

"Okay, first, why is it so cold, second, why do you speak English, and third what gives with the weird technology level," Willow continued. "I mean you have plumbing, some heating and very fine textile weaving, but no electricity or mechanical devices."

"The answers to your questions are all related to the same cause, and will sum up the background left out last night," answered Grael, "it has to do with the differences between your world and ours, and the impact that the flood of demons has had on our world."

Frankel then took up the conversation, "we have studied, as best we could, your world. It would appear that for the most part our world followed yours in societal and scientific development up until about two hundred years ago. For example, we had the same Judeo-Christian influence, the Middle Ages, the reformation and the beginnings of the industrialized era. We also experienced the same waves of exploration."

"What happened then," asked Buffy.

"Two things," answered the sage, "first, we entered into a mini-ice age due to a series of massive volcanic eruptions, and second we began to experience the increased demon activity. We are still not entirely convinced that the two events are not related, since the demons do appear to love the results of the cold," he continued, as he once again got up from the table and began to pace around the room. "Both of these events had an immediate retardation effect on our scientific progress, in addition to massive bouts of war, famine and social upheaval. As a result we are approximately a century and a half behind your world," he concluded, staring out of a window.

"Well, that does answer my questions," replied Willow, "I do have one other before you go on with your agenda."

"What's that," asked Amana.

"Why is magic apparently more advanced here," said the redhead.

"In part due to the upheavals we talked about," answered Amana, "we have been required to develop other methods to deal with our problems and with the demon plagues; however, we have now come to the end of our resources."

"Hence our need for you," concluded Grael.

"Okay, then," said the slayer, "what are your plans for us then?"

"Right, down to business," replied Grael.

"First, we would like for both of you to be fully assessed in your magical talents," continued Amana, "then, we are going to arrange for you to be outfitted and appraised in your fighting skills Buffy."

"We would then like to take some time to have additional talks with the two of you on slayers and slaying," interjected Frankel, continuing his personal agenda.

"That will probably take most of today," added Grael, "then, over the next few days we will start to train the two of you."

"Heavy workload," commented Buffy.

"At least it will keep us busy," replied Willow, "in fact, sounds like fun."

"We will also be training you in several Martial arts Willow so that you will be able to protect yourself when you don't have time for magic," added Amana.

"Oh, boy," exclaimed Buffy, "sweaty witch-girl, I love it."

"Alright then," said Grael, "let's get down to work."

At that moment, Buffy felt a familiar unpleasant cramping in her loins. She turned to Willow saying, "Will, watch-out, my spidey sense is tingling!"

Suddenly the door to the study area burst open and six demons burst in, with the leader, a green imp like creature yelling, "ok - scum, now we are going to get some answers!"


	3. Audaces Fortuna Luvat

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ivy, Sam and Bill for their input and suggestions into this while it was still a work in progress; you helped me out of several plot jams. Thanks to my significant other for all of her patience and perseverance. Thanks to my family for putting up with my not being around for great lengths of time. And finally to everyone who read and commented on the draft of this work, their input was more than valuable, it kept me writing.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter III - Audaces Fortuna Luvat

(Fortune Helps the Bold)

So far the day was going into the crapper, thought the one-meter high green-scaled demon that had the rather un-descriptive name of Kratel. First, there was the rushed forced march by the six of them through the night to get to the city. Then the time wasted trying to figure out how to get into the damned castle without anyone noticing. They had then stumbled around through the various buildings and rooms of the castle complex trying to find a group of people that they could one, overpower and two, kidnap without too much trouble. Finally stopping at one of an endless number of doors on what he figured was the second or third floor of the complex, he had heard a number of voices and thought, "this is it, it only sounds like three or four people are in this room." Gesturing to his companions to take up positions on either side of the door, Kratel kicked the door open and leapt into the room screaming, "ok - scum, now we are going to get some answers!"

However, instead of the three or four people he was expecting to see in the room there was at least twenty, and they were in no way intimidated by his entrance.

"Oh-Oh," he thought as battle was joined, "this might have been a mistake."

Buffy and Willow had been forewarned by Buffy's slayer senses that someone or something bad was about to happen, so when the six demons burst through the door they were already moving into defensive postures, Buffy, being without a weapon, had turned to the table and had grabbed a candlestick to use in her defence while Willow had begun to think about any spells she could use.

"Willow, get behind the table," Buffy yelled as she turned towards the leader of the demons that had burst into the meeting room.

"No problem," replied the redhead as she leaped onto the table and then jumped on the other side, "hey, Amana, Grael and the rest of you, get back here. We have to give Buffy room to work," she continued, gesturing to the other mages to join her on the far side of the table, away from the direct action.

Buffy rapidly thought to herself, "six on one, with some magic help from Will and the others - if they get their act together, not bad odds." She launched into a flying leap, which resulted in shortening the distance between her and the green demon that was in the lead.

"Prepare for pain, greeny," she yelled as she did a sweep kick on the demon and sent him flying backwards into one of his mates who was dyed a nauseating shade of purple.

"Oooof" went Kratel as he thought, "gods, this one is fast."

"Two out temporarily," thought the slayer, as she twirled towards a third demon, this a blue-green humanoid roughly two meters in height, and proceeded to give him a quick series of left-handed punches to his chest which left him gasping for air, she then knocked the demon tumbling to the floor with a swift bash over his head, using the candlestick that she was still holding in her right hand.

"Three down, three to go," Buffy thought to herself, time to get some help, "Will, I need a distraction or two," Buffy yelled out as she roundhouse kicked a fourth, red skinned, demon back through the door, in the process knocking down a charging Daithi, who had been coming to investigate the cause of the turmoil.

"What the heck," thought Daithi, as he was knocked to the ground with a big, red, unconscious, demon on top of him.

"Distraction coming up," thought Willow as she proceeded to levitate a chair and send it towards a blue skinned demon that had until that point been sneaking up behind Buffy.

"Buffy behind you," Willow yelled, as the chair broke apart over the demons back.

Buffy turned around saying, "thanks love," and proceeded to grab one of the distracted demon's arms and swung him around to pile into the remaining yellow skinned demon, who was in the process of trying to get out of the door, having quickly decided that things were not going their way.

"Driaghtit chent!" Exclaimed Amana as a bolt of light left her hands and impacted on the green demon that had been the first target of Buffy's attack. Kratel, who had been just getting up from the floor, was hit with enough force from the spell to knock him clear across the room to impact heavily against the wall.

"Ouch," he yelled, thinking, "this is crazy, I'm in over my head, and we have to get out of here." He looked around the room and saw that there was a window on the same wall as he had been thrown into, "that's it," he thought, "out the window we go."

"Men - to me," Kratel yelled out, "we are over matched with magic, we have to get out and back to our master," he continued as he made his way over to the window.

"Not so fast blue boy," called out Buffy as she the grabbed a blue skinned demon, which she had previous used as a battering toy, who was getting up and trying to reach his leader and hurled him to the floor again.

"I think that we are going to want to ask you guys a few questions," she continued, as she sat on the demon's back and carefully bashed the demon's head into the stone floor a few times just to make sure that this time it stayed down.

At this point the dyed purple demon, who had just gotten up from the floor, kicked Buffy in the side, which had the two fold effect of one, knocking her off the demon she was in the process of pummelling and two, making her very annoyed.

"That's it, you revolting excuse of a fashion statement," Buffy yelled, rolling on the floor and springing up onto her feet. "Now I'm really mad, and you are going to pay."

She proceeded to attack the purple demon with a combination of kicks and punches, and was quickly able to grab one of his arms and twist it behind him.

"You going to act nicely now, scumbag," she asked with mock sweetness, applying just enough force to make the demon feel genuine pain.

"Not on your life little girl," the demon replied grimacing in pain, "when I get free, I'm going to tear your arms off and eat them," he added.

"Now that's not very nice," Buffy replied, "since I have you like this, but just to make sure, if you get free that is, I'll take care of any impending problems now." Buffy then proceeded to coolly fracture both of the demon's arms before hurling him with enough force into the yellow demon to propel both of them into the wall.

Kratel, seeing that he was the only one of his group still standing, thought, "screw this, I'm for the window," and proceeded to make a break for the window.

"Gleiy teaddey!" Yelled Grael, having seen the demon breaking for the window, and from his hands sprung a long rope like object. Unfortunately, the demon had also seen the spell and was able to duck the rope heading towards him. Before anyone else was able to act, he leaped through the window, breaking it in the process, and escaped to freedom.

"Damn," he thought, "the boss is going to be really pissed about this." He then proceeded to leave the castle neighbourhood and make his way out of the city.

"Well," deadpanned an irritated slayer, "that was certainly a good way to work off breakfast."

The entire encounter had taken less than five minutes from the time the door had been burst open to the time the green demon leapt out of the window. The remaining demons in the study were quickly pined down and tied up. They were to be held for questioning by Daithi and his guardsmen later in the day.

-------------------------------------

About an hour later Buffy, Willow, Daithi and some of the mages re-convened in the study. In the interim, it had been tidied and the window had been replaced.

Willow turned to the others and said, "I guess we should finish off the schedules for Buffy and me now."

"I agree," replied Amana, "however, in setting those schedules we must take into consideration this mornings activities. The attack on the castle today can only mean the opposition is stepping up their efforts, just as Daithi indicated last night."

"I only think that this was a feint," replied Daithi, "they were too few in number to be a real attack. I'll know for certain once we finish questioning them, but my gut feeling is that they were only looking for information, and just happened to stumble into the wrong room, at the wrong time. I'll continue to investigate, but I believe that we still have some time before the demons gather for a major strike at us."

"I'm much more confident about our chances, however," replied Frankel, "I'm still stunned by the speed and strength of Buffy."

"I'm the slayer," Buffy replied, "It's what I've been born to do."

"I know," replied the sage, "you told us, but seeing you in action put it into a whole different framework."

"I just wish that I had been able to see more," said Daithi, "however, it was kind of hard, what with an unconscious demon on top of me."

"Sorry about that," replied Buffy, "but I didn't really have time to place where I was throwing them."

"It's ok," the commander answered, "however, I think that I'll be seeing lots of you in action before this is all finished."

"All right then," Grael said taking up the conversation, "before we were so rudely interrupted, we were just setting down the schedule for the next few days. I think that we should continue those discussions."

"The morning is mostly gone," Amana continued, "however, I think that we have time left to assess both of your magical potentials before lunch."

"Then after lunch, we will have the two of you down in the training halls for some physical assessments," said Daithi finishing the opening remarks of the group.

"Sounds peachy to me," Willow replied, "what's involved in assessing our magic potential?"

"What potential," asked Buffy semi-seriously, "I probably have the magic power of a gnat."

"Don't sell yourself short," replied Amana, "we believe that you have some significant talent, and when it will be combined with Willow's it will be awesome," she continued.

Buffy looked slightly sceptical, but was willing to be convinced otherwise.

"Now," continued Grael, "we will adjourn to one of our work areas, and begin the testing."

With that Buffy, Willow, Grael and Amana left the study and headed to Amana's workroom, which was located two floors above.

The room was about twice the size of the study below. It had several large worktables in the middle of the room, floor to ceiling bookshelves were on three walls and large windows were on the fourth. Two large desks were located under the windows. The tables were covered in flasks, beakers and other paraphernalia. In addition to countless books, the bookshelves also held numerous objects such as skulls, candles, stuffed animals and other curiosities. The desks were covered in parchments, note-pads and other items. Two fireplaces and several large lanterns provided illumination for the room.

"Well, here we are," said Amana, "this is my workroom, and we will begin the process of accessing both your potential, and your existing level of training here."

"Take a seat," she continued, pointing to several chairs that had been pulled up in front of one of the fireplaces.

"We will begin with an overview of magic and how people who are properly trained are able to use it," continued Grael as he handed the two women glasses filled with a red drink.

Both Willow and Buffy looked at the drinks suspiciously, "what in this," asked Buffy.

"Just something to help you relax and allow us to begin the process of assessing your magical abilities," replied Grael, "it will not have any long-term effects on you and we ask that you drink it in order for us to properly assess you."

With that assurance, both women drank the cool, sweet and slightly alcoholic beverage. Almost immediately, they both began to feel their muscles relax.

"Great stuff," Willow said, "we should bottle this and take it back - it would be a great hit in the dorms."

"Willow," Grael said after a few minutes, "we know that you have been somewhat successful in using magic, both in your own reality and, as you demonstrated this morning, here. However, how much do you know about what you do? How you do it? And why things you try sometimes both work and don't work?"

"Well, I've been using a combination of books that I've been able to find, and I've also been able to receive assistance from other witches that I've run into," Willow said, beginning to wonder where the conversation was going.

"Go on," prompted Amana.

"And, I don't really know much else," continued Willow, "I mean sometimes I need circles and rituals and other items to do some of the simplest things, and other times major things happen just because I want them to," she added shaking her head, "it just confuses me, most of the time," she concluded looking hopefully at the two mages.

"About what we thought Amana," said Grael who then turned towards the slayer asking, "Buffy, why do you think that you have the abilities and powers that you do?"

"Never really thought about it," answered the slayer, "I've just always been told that I was born to it, and somehow it was in me."

"Do either of your parents show any sign of the abilities that you do," asked Amana.

"No, not really," replied the slayer, "I mean, my dad is a klutz, and my mom is not much better."

"Then why do you think that your powers come from genetics," asked Amana.

When both Buffy and Willow looked confused at this questioning of one of the basic doctrines of slaying, she continued, "trick question, it is genetic, but not in the manner you are thinking of."

"What do you mean; my parents are not my parents? That I was adopted or something?"

"No, they are your parents; however, it would appear that 'help' was provided in the construction your genetic makeup. Most likely while you were still in your mother's womb," Grael said.

"How," asked Buffy and Willow simultaneously, both stunned at the words of the mage.

"Glad you asked that question," replied Grael with a twinkle in his eye, "for it goes to the core of what magic is, and how it can be manipulated and or controlled."

"Okay, I'll bite," answered Willow, "what is magic?"

"Magic, to put it simply is everything," answered Amana, "it is the energy that joins all of life together, it is the building block of our existence."

"Luke, use the force," Buffy whispered to Willow."

"What's the force," asked Amana.

"Nothing," replied a smiling Willow, "just a line from a movie."

"So at its essence, magic is the energy that joins molecules together then," said Willow.

"And it explains, in part the slayer question," continued Amana.

"What slayer question," Buffy asked.

"Simply how you are able to do what you do," answered Grael, "tell me, do these 'watchers' you told us about use magic?"

"Yes," answered Willow.

"Well then," continued Grael, "I think that he, or someone working with him, manipulated Buffy's genetic make-up while she was in the womb."

"I'm a lab experiment," shrieked Buffy.

"Well, not an experiment, since they appear to have been doing this for centuries," answered an equally outraged Willow.

"Definitely unethical," said Amana.

"How's that?" Willow asked, still stunned by the idea that the watchers, and the watcher council, could be so manipulative.

"Using your powers and abilities on another human," said Grael, "without their permission, is evil and may never be forgiven."

"We have a word for this type of person," continued Amana.

"Yes," asked the slayer.

"Warlock," answered Amana.

"But we will have time later to fully discus magic and the ethics surrounding its use," Amana said as she stood up and added more wood to the fire. "Willow you had asked if magical energy was akin to the energy which holds molecules together."

"And yes, to a certain extent it is," continued Grael, "however, what turns a normal into a mage is the ability to shape and use this energy."

"Normal," said Buffy, wondering once again about groups and their insistence on weird labels for everything.

"The vast majority of the population who do not have the innate talent to perform magic," answered Grael.

"Only one in ten million people has more than rudimentary talent to use magic," Amana continued, "fewer than one in fifty million have the talent that Grael and I have, you appear to be at this level Buffy."

"And less than one in a billion have your apparent talent Willow," concluded Grael.

"Oh," replied a suddenly very quiet Willow, "how can you tell?"

"First of all, both Grael and I have taught for more than twenty years," Amana answered, "and second, since we sat down to talk we have been measuring the two of you."

"The drink I gave you has the relaxation properties that I mentioned," continued Grael, "it also has one other property."

"What's that," asked the slayer.

"It allows someone, who has been trained, to measure the amount of energy that is attracted to person who drank the mixture," Amana concluded.

"Great," said Willow, "I'm a big magnet."

"Willow," asked Grael, "when you performed your spells, and rituals, didn't you feel energy being attracted to you?"

"Yes, but I thought...," said Willow quietly, "well, I didn't really know what to think," conceded Willow.

"Well I do," Amana replied, "and it was your ability to use magics that was attracting the energy although you didn't know that at the time.

"What gives then with spells, and tools," asked Willow.

"They are used as focuses," replied Amana, "in the working of some magic it is useful to use a device or object or 'spell' to help you focus the magical energy and then to release it as you wished it to be used."

"Some specific items," she continued, "such as those based on iron, can be either useful or disruptive."

"Iron, in particular works in this way," continued the older woman, "when it is used in a sword a mage can focus the energy raised into it and then use that magical energy very effectively. However, it is also a magic attractor, so it may also disrupt the mage when they are trying to use magic."

"There is a price for each benefit," added Grael.

"Okay," replied Willow, "what about rituals and circles then."

"They are used for a slightly different purpose," replied Grael, "we use them to focus, and transfer the energy from a number of people, not all have to be mages by the way, and send it to a mage for use in great magics."

"That's what I thought," Willow said, "however, it's never been so clearly explained to me before."

"Now, we will spend some time working with the two of you to measure more accurately your abilities, and to judge the level of your training," injected Amana.

"Well, I'm easy," said Buffy, "I've got no training."

"That's true," replied Grael, "however, we will have to determine which area or areas your abilities are focused in."

"What do you mean areas," asked Willow.

"You are aware that we divide the essence into five areas," replied Amana.

"Yes," answered the redhead, "Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Self."

"Exactly," said Grael, "and it turns out that each mage is best suited to one, sometimes two of these areas."

"They then concentrate on the manipulation of that type of essence, and develop their capabilities there," continued Amana.

"In fact," added Grael, "you can tell the capabilities of a mage by the colour or colours of the rope they use to secure their robes."

"Huh," asked Buffy, still not one hundred percent on the information she had been receiving.

"Red for fire," he replied, "blue for water, grey for air, green for earth and silver for self."

"And if a mage has talent in more than one area," added Amana, "the rope is in both colours."

"Oh boy," said Willow softly to her lover, "a magical dress code, what will they think of next."

"Now, what she and I are going to do is test you in these areas and figure out where your 'inclinations' lay so that we will then be able to concentrate your training there," concluded Grael.

For the next two hours, the women were tested using a variety of techniques. Some like levitation were familiar to them; others such as matter manipulation were not. Finally, Grael brought the testing to a conclusion and had everyone sit down once again by the fire.

"That was certainly interesting," said a very excited Willow. For in the last two hours she had been exposed to more magic than she had in her life to that point.

"Different," was the only response from the exhausted slayer. She was as tired as if she had battled dozens of vampires and demons.

"Well, ladies," said Amana, "this has been one of the most exciting days in my life."

"I have to agree," said Grael, "the two of you have certainly met, and exceeded our hopes."

"Why am I exhausted and witch girl here is bouncing off the ceiling," asked Buffy.

"Mainly because she has so much more ability," answered Grael, "and because we put the two of you through an exhausting mental workout which you are not used to. This type of activity is very strenuous and exhausting."

"The two of you are probably very hungry," continued Amana.

"Details, need to know details, food can wait, what can I, no we, do," bubbled Willow.

"Let's start with Buffy first," replied Amana, "as expected she has significant potential, but is totally un-trained."

"No surprises there," replied the slayer.

"None at all," agreed Grael, "however; we were able to determine that your particular areas of strength lie in the manipulation of self and air."

"Which means," asked Buffy.

"Principally that you will be able to control your body and the essences of air," answered Amana, "in fact, we now believe that your 'superior' healing and some of your reflexes and speed are merely an offshoot of your magic. In other words, you heal faster and react faster, because you are able to magically repair and boost the energy output of your muscles and tendons."

"Say what," asked Buffy.

"It's just that you have been doing this unconsciously until now," replied Grael, "we will endeavour to train you so that you can do it consciously, which should significantly improve your abilities and extend the range of what you will be able to do."

"Such as," asked Buffy's lover and friend.

"Such as repairing bone, replacing blood loss, curing viral and other illnesses and the ability to regenerate lost organs and limbs," he replied to a stunned Willow.

"Oh," said Buffy in the sudden silence, "what does the manipulation of air allow me to do, fly?"

"In the short term we will be able to train you to build shield and other things like vacuums where you wish, in addition to skills such as levitation," answered Amana, secretly pleased that the two young women were still able to keep their sense of humour though all that had happened.

"And in the long term," asked an excited Willow, she was beginning to see incredible potential options in fighting what until then had seemed an endless, and ultimately hopeless, fight against the forces of evil, not only on this world but also back home.

"Massive wind movements - tornadoes, hurricanes and other wind storms," replied Amana.

"But it will take time to train you to use your abilities at this level," continued Grael, "and I don't know how much time we will have to do this training."

"Okay, you have gutted and filleted me," said the slayer, "now what about my lover?"

"Willow," answered Grael, "Willow is a once in several lifetimes find."

"Eh," replied the redhead.

"Your abilities are overwhelming," he continued, "and with training you will most likely be the most powerful person on either world."

"Not only that," said Amana, "but with this training you will be able to control the essence in all five areas."

"Right now, your have self trained yourself in the disciplines of Earth, Air and Self magic, however, neither Grael or myself were able to detect any weak points in your ability to manipulate either Water or Fire magic."

"You are," said Grael, "what has been until now a legend."

"Say what," asked the confused witch.

"An arch-mage," replied Grael, "someone who is able to manipulate any form of energy and essence."

"That's enough for now," said Amana, "why don't the two of you go down to lunch; after all you are expected in the training halls as soon as you finish eating. We will continue our talk tonight after dinner in our study," she concluded, as she led the two contemplative women out to the hall where they were met by Aiofe, Bridie and a cat.

"Meeow," said Shadow-Cat who continued plaintively, "Meeoooow!"

"She's been in such a state madam," said Aiofe, "trying to get in to see you, and I think looking for lunch."

"Okay, then" said the arch-mage smiling even with the importance of the morning's revelations still fresh in her mind, "food it is."

The four humans and one feline then headed down to the dining hall for lunch. Amana turned back into her workroom and retuned to sit by the fire with Grael after stopping by a bookshelf to collect a bottle and two glasses.

"Will you tell them," asked Grael, as his long time friend and lover sat down and poured each of them large glasses of mead.

"Not yet," she replied thoughtfully, as she watched the mead in her glass reflect the firelight, "I think that we can wait a few days for the two of them to get comfortable with their abilities and the new surroundings."

"We have been very daring in setting out on this course of action," she continued, "and it's going to take time for the two of them to get up to speed and to trust us fully."

"True enough," he said sipping his drink and stretching out his long, tired, legs before the fire, "for all of their casualness, I think that they are still in a bit of shock."

"I agree, and if we let them know what the potential of the two of them working together is, we might lose them altogether," she said, as she too stretched out before the fire, "besides, knowing those two, even as little as we do, they just might figure it out for themselves."

"That would make everything much easier," Grael replied, as the two of them fell silent in companionship and contemplation.

-------------------------------------

Later in the day, two sweaty women, one in much worse shape than the other, were heading back to their chambers after participating in an extremely intense three-hour workout. They were trailed by a cat and preceded by their two servants.

"Not much further love," the blond said as she partially held up the other woman, "we'll get you into the bath soon." Buffy was both amused and pleased. She had just finished a great workout where she had sparred with Daithi and several of his guardsmen, often two or three at a time. After some initial doubts by the guardsmen about her talents, Daithi had decided not to reveal to them any details about Buffy or about the morning's activities, they quickly realised that she was more than capable of holding her own against fully trained troops. She was amused by her lover's experience; Willow had not fared as well as Buffy since she was unused to the strenuous exercises she had been put through. Buffy was convinced that every muscle in Willow's body was screaming.

"It'll be ok," she said to her friend, "Daithi has given me some ointment, and after your bath I'll massage your sore muscles," she continued smiling at her.

"You laugh at me," Willow said grimacing in pain, "and as soon as I can lift my arms I'll turn you into a frog."

"No laughing, promise" said Buffy, "besides, if you turn me into a frog, who will you have to massage sore body parts?"

When they entered the room Buffy turned to Aiofe and Bridie and said, "that's enough for know, come back just before dinner."

As soon as the two other women had left Buffy turned towards Willow and said, "okay now, lets see about getting you into the bath."

"Hurt, pain, much soreness," complained a tired Willow as Buffy went over and directed her towards the bathroom.

"I hurt in places I never even new existed," she continued, as her lover slowly began to peel the stiff armour that they both had been issued off of her.

"Shush, now, love, let me get these clothes off of you." Buffy said as she continued to slowly undress Willow, noticing that she was swollen in several places and that bruises were beginning to develop all over her body. Willow was a mess, and Buffy quickly figured out that she was going to need her help to even get into the bath.

"Will, love, sit down on the edge of the bath for a second while I get out of these clothes," Buffy said, as she rapidly stripped off her own clothing. Willow was too tired to move, and instead of sitting on the edge of the bath, had simply collapsed onto the floor, Buffy went over to Willow, and picking her up in her arms, carried her into the bathtub.

"Now love," she said softly, "let's let the hot water sooth those aching muscles of yours." Buffy carefully placed Willow on one of the benches inside of the bathtub, and picking up soap and a washcloth, began to softly wash the other woman.

"Nice, very nice, don't stop," Willow said gently as her muscles began to relax and she began to feel almost human, "if you keep this up, I just might be normal in two or three days."

"Normal is good," replied Buffy, "however, I'm looking to get you back in shape sooner than that. After all, I need my snuggle monster for tonight."

"Nuzzle good, cuddle better," said the redhead, "but I can think of other things to do."

"Here I thought you were dysfunctional," retorted Buffy.

"Sore yes, dysfunctional no," replied Willow as she turned towards her soul mate and drew her lips towards her own for a long, lingering kiss.

"That was very nice," said the slayer a few minutes later, "however, I've got even a better idea."

"What's that," asked Willow, as she tried to nuzzle the other without getting a mouthful of water in the process.

"Why don't we finish getting clean, then I'll massage your sore parts," replied the blond woman, "then we can see about getting sticky and dirty before dinner."

"Goody, I'm up for sticky stuff," replied Willow, "that's a great plan."

They quickly finished their bath and after towelling off, proceeded naked into the bedroom.

"Quick girl up on the bed," ordered Buffy, "and present me back," she continued with mock gravity.

"Yes boss," replied Willow, "but don't you want to massage me first?"

"Enough lip," retorted the other, "I am going to start with massaging you."

Buffy got up on top of the other woman and began to work the ointment she had been given into the stiff and sore muscles of her lover. It started to have an immediate effect on her as Buffy could visibly see some of the bruising and swelling leave Willow's back. "Damn, this is good stuff," thought the slayer, "these people have some impressive medical knowledge."

Buffy turned around on Willow's back and began to rub and massage the ointment into her legs, taking care to ensure that she worked all of the soreness out of the muscles, she knew from experience that if she didn't it would be difficult the following day for the other woman to get up and walk.

"Feels, nice" murmured Willow, "don't stop."

Buffy had no intention of stopping, given that she was becoming very stimulated by what she was doing. Here she was, buck naked sitting on top of her equally naked lover's back massaging her legs. In fact, Buffy began to feel a familiar wetness between her legs.

The massage was having a similar effect on Willow. She was feeling safe, and secure, knowing that there was nothing to fear from the woman who was on top of her. "Humm," she thought, "I was just thinking."

"Dangerous habit," replied Buffy, "could lead to unknown situations."

"No, it's just that it's been one hell of a day," said Willow.

"How's that."

"It's just that it's been less than a day since you left on patrol and I began to get ready for the Imbolg ritual."

"You're right," the slayer continued as she gently, but firmly, turned her lover over so that she could continue working on her muscles, "so much has happened it feels like weeks."

Willow was presented with a vision from her dreams; sitting on top of her belly was her lover. Willow could see the strong muscles in Buffy's back and shoulder ripple as Buffy continued to work on her legs. It was a stimulating experience, and Willow could feel, and see her nipples harden. It was time for some direct action. She slowly began to trace her fingers over the slayer's muscles, and was pleased to see the small hairs on her lover's back stiffen. Carefully sitting up, she began to nuzzle Buffy's neck and continued with soft kisses and gentle licks to her neck and ears.

"Mumm, you taste and smell wonderful," she said as she slowly moved her hands around the other woman's side to cup her breasts. "Someone is excited," she commented softly.

"You should talk," Buffy replied huskily, "since I can feel your nipples pressing into my back."

Buffy bent forward and began to kiss Willow's feet and ankles. Willow continued moving her hands forward and down towards the cleft between her lover's legs. The slayer cooperated by moving her kisses up Willow's legs, which had the simultaneous result of moving her sex towards Willow's willing lips. Willow was shortly presented with the object of her desire, and was pleased to notice that her soul-mates clitoris and labia were swollen with desire."Yummy," the arch-mage thought as she proceeded to gently kiss and lick her lover's sex, eliciting a sharp intake of breath form the slayer.

"Damn it girl," she said, "you know I love it when you do that."

"I know," Willow replied, taking a quick break from her activities, "I notice that you are practically dripping, was that my doing?"

"Less talk, more action," Buffy replied, as she bent down between Willow's legs and gently blew on her swollen clitoris, Willow moaned deep into Buffy groin, since she had been licking and kissing Buffy's labia and clitoris at the time.

The two women fell into mutual pleasure, mostly out of their love for each other but also, in no small measure, as a release from the tensions that they had been under for the last day. The two women became covered in sweat and other bodily fluids as their lovemaking continued into the afternoon, as promised by Buffy.

"I just love it when your plans work," murmured Willow to a sleeping slayer, just before she too fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Later that evening there was a discrete knock of the suits door. Hearing no response from within the rooms Aiofe softly opened the door calling out, "Buffy, Willow, it's time to get ready for dinner."

Aiofe and Bridie entered the rooms and went over to the bedroom where they saw the two travellers entangled together on the rumpled bedclothes.

"Buffy," Bridie called again, "time to get up for dinner."

"Shush," said Aiofe, "let them sleep. We will go and tell Amana that they are deep in sleep, and that we will bring up some food later for them."

The two young women then left the room and carefully closed the door behind them.

"Today was hard enough on them," commented Bridie, "and the next few are not going to get any better. They will need all of the rest they can get."

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Far away, in the demon's stronghold, a pensive master demon sat in his office. Scattered at his feet were the remains of a green imp like demon, and the remains of Kratel's boss.

"Told them to get answers," the demon thought, "what do they bring back, but fantastic stories of a girl with super speed and strength, incompetents, they deserved my wrath.

"But," he continued, "what if they were right?

"Answers," he continued aloud, "I need answers. All of the plans we have worked on for millennia are focused at this point in time, I can't have unknown variables in play now."

He stood up and began to pace, "Humm, got to get this mess cleaned up."

Suddenly stopping his pacing the demon thought, "bold action was not the answer, and I've still got a little time. I will just have to wait to see what my human servants come up with." The demon strode out of his office screaming for his servants to attend him.


	4. Amor Omnia Vincit

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ivy, Sam and Bill for their input and suggestions into this while it was still a work in progress; you helped me out of several plot jams. Thanks to my significant other for all of her patience and perseverance. Thanks to my family for putting up with my not being around for great lengths of time. And finally to everyone who read and commented on the draft of this work, their input was more than valuable, it kept me writing.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter IV - Amor Omnia Vincit

(Love Conquers All)

The dark skinned man scowled as he walked down the halls of Castle Maldor. It had taken him the better part of six months to work his way into a position of trust in the castle community, so that he could finally deliver top quality information back to his dreaded master. Now, however, that master seemed willing to squander all of his efforts to date to get details on something the silly mages were doing. It was not that he disparaged magic or the practice of it, but that he disagreed with all the rules and ethics that the mage's council put on humans who fell under their control. His view on magic was simple, do whatever works and damn the consequences. This attitude was part of the reason that he was now working for the demon master; however, he possessed enough sense of self-preservation to figure out that this time his master may have gone too far.

He thought, "he's willing to risk getting me killed for some information that no-one is going to use." It was his opinion that there was nothing the mages could do in time to stop the coming holocaust, the demons and their human servants would soon be overrunning this world, one more step in their goal of total conquest. He had, however, long ago given up letting what he thought govern his actions, he was bound to the demon and was compelled to obey. He would get the information that was sought, or he would die, it was that simple. He continued walking down towards the mage's wing of the castle complex thinking, "I wonder whom I can co-opt in the employ of the mages."

He had had some success building on the petty gripes and imagined grievances harboured in some of the servants which had resulted in an extensive network of spies and other information gatherers who feed him information on most aspects of life inside the castle. However, up till this point he had been unsuccessful in compromising any of the servants who worked in the mage's wing. "Maybe I can slip something into the food and when they are drugged search some rooms for clues, or answers," he stopped, and thought, "no, the mages will be certain to check all of their food, but," he paused for a moment, "maybe I can drug one of the servant's food and get some answers out of them." With that thought in mind, he abruptly changed direction and headed off towards his own quarters.

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Elsewhere in the castle complex, up in the mage's wing, morning activities proceeded in a normal manner. In one suite, two women were entwined together in bed, naked under a pile of blankets and comforters.

Buffy awoke, as usual, just as dawn was breaking on the horizon. Looking at her friend and lover burrowed in her arms she noted, not for the first time, how Willow's soft breathing trembled the fine hairs on her face, and how her chest rose and fell, both with her breathing and with the beating of her heart.

Buffy decided to stay in bed, warm and comfortable in her lover's arms, for just a little while longer. She knew that before long their servants Aiofe and Bridie would be coming by to get the day underway.

The last ten days or so had followed a predictable pattern. First Buffy would awaken shortly before dawn and then she would sweet-talk Willow into getting out of bed. The two of them would then proceed to exercise and bathe before breakfast. They spent the morning with Amana and Grael learning and perfecting their magic and other aspects with respect to the 'mental' arts. The afternoons had been spent in the practice halls with Daithi and the other guardsmen. In the 'martial' arts Buffy was without peer, and she had been spending her time teaching both Willow and the other guardsmen specific tips and tricks in dealing with demons. Willow had been spending most of her evenings closeted once again with the mages learning advanced spells, while Buffy was in conversation with Frankel, discussing slayers, slaying and other aspects of her life's work. In fact, the days had been so filled with various activities that neither Buffy nor Willow missed home all that much, certain that Giles and the others would keep everything balanced and their absence explained, until their return.

Buffy figured that their return was not that far off. It was not in what anyone had said, but rather in what had not been said. It was also apparent that both Grael and Daithi were on a very tight schedule and that the nexus of the problem was fast approaching.

Buffy turned her thoughts towards Willow; she could tell that her lover was dreaming, since her eyes were moving rapidly under their lids. Suddenly Willow awoke and breathlessly sat up in bed.

"Willow," asked the slayer as she wrapped her shivering lover in a strong hug, "what's wrong?"

"Bad dream."

"I can tell that," the slayer replied semi-sarcastically, "what were you dreaming about?"

Willow paused a moment, as she had been taught, to collect her thoughts before answering, "Indistinct images," she said a moment later, "dark, twisted images, with an overlay of betrayal," she added. Willow was trying to be as precise as she could in her descriptions, since Amana had told her that for a mage dreams were both powerful and prophetic. She had been assured that with additional practice and interpretation her dreams would become less confusing and more beneficial.

"Strange, I wonder what it could mean," the slayer replied, "however, that is the clearest dream that you have remembered yet."

"I'm sure that Grael will be able to help me with it later," Willow added, "Amana told me that he has a real gift with this type of dream."

Buffy got out of bed, wincing at the cold. She was still not used to the frigid temperatures that were the norm in this reality. She went into the front room of their suite and raked up the fire calling out to Willow, "Will, now that you are up, let's get going on our exercises."

"Aw, do we have to," complained Willow, "after all, we exercised yesterday."

"And the day before, "replied Buffy, "and today and tomorrow."

"Yes, mommy," replied Willow as she got out of bed, "if you insist." In truth, Willow had begun to look forward to the daily exercise session, for one reason that it was with her lover and for another that she was beginning to see results. In addition, she had other, personal reasons to get the day underway, Grael had promised something special in her lessons later in the morning if everything progressed as rapidly as it had been for the last few days.

Willow quickly joined Buffy in performing their exercise routine. Both women exercised naked, primarily due to a lack of appropriate clothing, but also because both thoroughly enjoyed the sight of the other in their birthday suit. Before long they were both covered with sweat and moving into the final part of the morning workout, at this point Willow finished; since there was no way that she could keep up with the slayer in her kendo routine.

"You are so graceful," she commented as she sat by the fire watching as Buffy finished her practice, "I get excited by just watching you move."

"How excited," the other asked.

"This excited," Willow replied, as she leaped on the slayer. Buffy, allowed herself to be carried to the floor and pinned with her arms above her head, as the other woman began to softly kiss and lick her between her breasts.

"Mmm," the arch-mage said, "salty, I like salty."

Willow began to slowly kiss the underside of Buffy's breasts, gradually making her way up towards the other woman's nipples, which had hardened perceptibly at the attention being paid to the slayer. Still holding on to Buffy's arms with one of her hands Willow brought the other one down and began to stimulate one of Buffy's breasts and its nipple while she simultaneously began to suck and nibble on the nipple of the other.

Buffy's was beginning to breath more rapidly, as the attention being paid to her was starting to turn her insides to jelly. She started to work her hands free so that she could reciprocate the attention being paid to her.

"Don't," Willow said softly, "I want to you to relax and go with the flow," continued Willow, as she began to move down the other woman's body softly kissing, licking and stroking the sweat-covered skin. Reaching Buffy's belly button Willow softly blew into it and licked the sweat out of it.

Buffy giggled and said, "Stop that, witch that is a very ticklish spot."

"I know," Willow replied, as she moved even further down the slayer's body.

She noticed that the hair on Buffy's pubic mound was matted and damp with sweat. She delicately ran her fingers though the hair teasing it and gently pulling on a few of the soft, blond hairs. She then began to lick the cleft between the slayer's legs, drinking in the dark musty taste caused by Buffy's sexual excitement and the exercise that she had done. Swirling her tongue around Buffy's clitoris she smoothly inserted a finger deep inside of her lover, pleased with the body-arching groan that emanated from her. Willow continued her dual ministrations on the other woman for several minutes, driving Buffy to a near peak. Willow slowed down her activities to allow her lover to calm down, just a little bit, and when she judged that she could continue without driving Buffy over the edge she swiftly inserted a second and then a third finger into the other woman who was now rocking back and forth on the floor in pleasure.

"Please, please," Buffy whimpered, "please let me finish."

"Patience, my dear," said Willow, as she carefully inserted a fourth and then finally her fifth finger into her lover.

"No, no," babbled Buffy, "no, please," she continued as she realized what Willow was about to do.

"Shush, love," replied Willow, "I'll be gentle," as she formed a fist inside of Buffy and began to rhythmically move her arm back and forth; she moved her head back up her lover's body and swiftly sucked in a nipple for special, oral, attention.

After a few minutes of that, special attention, Buffy exploded into a body shaking orgasm screaming "oh my Goddess, yes."

"Goddess, Willow," she exclaimed a few minutes later, when she was certain that one, she would continue to breath and two, that she could form a coherent sentence, "you sure know how to crank me up."

"Happy Valentine's Day," replied Willow, "I couldn't find you a card, so I had to improvise."

"Is it the 14th," Buffy asked, "I've lost total track of time, not to mention that I don't have a gift for you."

"Yep, it's the fourteenth," Willow replied, as she kissed Buffy on the forehead, and stood up, "and I'm sure that you will think of something before the day is out."

At that point, there was a discrete knock on the door, followed by the entrance of Aiofe and Bridie.

"Morning, ladies," Aiofe said smiling as she entered the room, "it's time to get the day moving, although I think that the two of you have been moving pretty good so far."

"We were aware of your activities from the sounds we heard outside," continued Bridie, "so we decided to wait a few minutes."

Willow and Buffy blushed from the roots of their hair to the tips of their toes, "I was that loud," asked Buffy.

"Yes, you were," replied Aiofe, "don't worry; however, we have no stigmas or prejudices based on sexual orientation in our society."

"In fact, it's been pretty obvious which way you two leaned," continued Bridie, "given the constant, non-verbal communication that goes on between the two of you."

"Oh," replied the redhead, as she turned to help Buffy stand up. "I guess we are definitely out of the closet then, what with my little gift to you, eh Buff. Will I get some type of reward?"

Buffy stood up on wobbly legs, and holding Willow's hand as they headed off to their bath, thought, "oh yeah, I'll definitely think of something as a 'reward' for you later."

------------------------------------------

Later that morning both Buffy and Willow were deep in their studies with the two mages Amana and Grael. Willow was working with Grael on specific applications in regards to earth and self-magics and Buffy was working with Amana on tying her newfound skill with air magics to her prodigious innate skills in self-magic.

"That's right Buffy," Amana said softly as she watched the intense concentration that the other woman was displaying, "keep control over your emotions and focus on the energy that is surrounding you."

"Now you have it," she added a few moments later as in the air in front of the slayer an opaque shape formed, approximately one meter wide and two meters high. It appeared to have little, or no, depth.

"Congratulations, Buffy," the mage said, "this is the best example of a wall shield that you've done so far."

Buffy was elated at both her achievement and the praise that had been given to her. She had accomplished what only two weeks earlier she would have said was impossible, she had cast a spell, and a powerful one at that. The shield that she had created would block all blunt force attacks, up to and including a bullet.

"Now," the mage said, "let's move on to the next step in the spell sequence."

Buffy collapsed the shield and paused for a moment to collect her energy.

"Ok," Amana said after allowing Buffy to collect herself for a few minutes, "let's go over the steps one more time, to make sure that you have it all."

Buffy rested for a second and then started to list the steps, "first I create the shield, and then I make it non-fixed. Finally I will try to make it key into my body's energy so that it can indicate to me when someone or something tries to penetrate it."

"That's it," replied Amana, "remember to stop briefly between each step, and allow your body to regain energy. Once you have successfully completed all three steps, I will teach you how to release the spell and have it draw energy from its surroundings and not from you."

Buffy paused for a moment and then began to focus the energy within her on the spell she was about to cast. Shortly there was once again a shield floating in the air in front of her. "One down," she said softly and, taking a deep breath began the second part of the spell. Thinking of the energy that was drawn from her to form the shield she unfocused her minds eye and saw the ties that the spell had to the surrounding world. She then carefully detached each of the ties so that only the link between her and the spell was still active. Buffy demonstrated this by having the spell shield move around her, keeping it within two meters of her.

"Good, good," Amana said softly as she watched the other woman concentrate on her task, "now make the link between you and the shield two-way."

Buffy took in another deep breath, and focused her attention on the actual psychic link, which linked her to the spell. She could sense that there was an energy flow, and that it was one way, from her to the spell. Using some of the biofeedback techniques she had been taught earlier in the week, she reversed part of the energy that was feeding the spell so that it came back to her.

"Excellent," the other mage replied, "now let me test the completed spell." Amana then proceeded to pick up a knife and attempted to strike Buffy through the shield, as expected the shield blocked her attack, however, Buffy did feel a certain amount of excruciating pain.

"Ow," exclaimed the slayer, "that hurt!" With that exclamation, the shield dissipated.

"That is expected dear," replied Amana, "you will have to adjust the amount of feedback so that you feel the attack, but not the pain."

Amana walked back over to the workbench and picked up a pair of tongs, "now try again and adjust the amount of feedback so that you will not react to the attack as you did, and cause the spell to be cancelled.

Once again, Buffy went through the steps to create the spell shield, this time she was careful to limit the amount of feedback. She also noticed that she was performing the spell faster. "Amana," she said, "I'm doing this faster."

"Yep," the other woman replied, "in fact, the more you practice this spell the faster you will be. Eventually it will be nearly instantaneous, you will think of the spell and it will come into place, when you are at that level we will tie the spell to a power-word in your mind so that you'll be able to cast it by just calling out the word and it will come into place." At that she suddenly swing at the shield with the tongs, hoping to catch Buffy off-guard, once again the spell deflected the attack, this time, however, the feedback to Buffy was much less, and she did not react in pain.

"Better," Amana said, "this time you felt the attack, but it wasn't enough for you to lose concentration and have it dispel."

"It felt like a soft pressure," replied Buffy.

"Excellent," continued Amana, "now let's work on some of the finer details before lunch; tomorrow, we will work on making the spell independent."

"How will I use it," asked Buffy, excited about the progress that she had made, and now confidant that she could begin to call herself a mage.

"Primarily as an adjunct to your fighting," replied the other mage, "for example, you could have the shield protect you from behind as you engaged foes in front of you."

"Cool," replied Buffy, thinking that it was great to have a way to combine both of her skills together.

Elsewhere in the workroom, Grael and Willow were working on a different set of skills. Willow was trying to attune herself to the energies of the earth and the creatures on it. It would be a useful skill so that she could monitor demons and other animals. She had progressed to the point where she was able to sense creatures and perform some rudimentary tracking of them when she felt a familiar rubbing against her leg.

"Shadow-cat," she exclaimed, "here you are, I haven't seen you in days," she continued as she reached down to pick-up her feline and sat down by the fireplace to stroke and fuss over her.

"This gives me an idea," commented Grael as he observed the interaction between Willow and her cat, "and I think that you are ready for this type of work, as I mentioned last night."

"What's that," asked Willow looking up at her teacher.

"It's just that I think that you are ready to try to attach to a familiar," replied Grael. "Seeing you with your cat there has reinforced the idea in my mind."

"What do you mean?" asked Willow, thinking that sometimes Grael could be incredibly leisurely with the details.

"For mages of your skill level there is the possibility of training a domestic animal to become your familiar," replied Grael, "and I think that you and shadow-cat there would make a perfect pairing."

"Familiar," asked Willow.

"Familiar," replied the other mage, "an animal whom you impart part of your essence, and from whom you take an equal amount. When done properly you will be able to use Shadow-cat's senses, and link with her to see what she sees, and sense what she senses, when you are not with her."

"Cool," said the redhead, "what do we have to do?"

"The spell involves both a mental component, and a physical one," replied Grael.

"Ok, what do we do first?"

"First we will need a little blood from both you and your cat," replied the mage, "then we will mix it, and complete the spell with the mental component."

Over the next hour both mages worked carefully to achieve success in the casting of the spell. They carefully prepared their ingredients, and gently extracted a small quantity of blood from both Shadow-cat and from Willow. The cat sensed that something important was going on a bore up with the various indignities that were performed on her. Finally, Grael indicated that they were ready to cast the spell.

Willow took up the various components of the spell, and concentrating on the cat that had taken up residence on one of the workbenches, gathered up her power. She then focused on the essence that designated her pet and herself. Then, using the force of her will, forced a potion of the essences to combine. She immediately experienced a mind-expanding awareness of the world around her, and she knew that she was seeing through Shadow-cat's eyes, there was incredible depth perception in what she was seeing and a total lack of colour, she could also see herself, and with her normal sight could see Shadow-cat. The experience was quite unnerving and as soon as she realised what had happened, the spell collapsed.

"That," Willow stopped for a moment to collect her thoughts, "that was quite an experience."

"Strange, and frightening, was it," asked Grael.

"Yes," replied the redhead, "however, I'm pleased that it succeeded at all."

"I told you that you were capable of completing the spell," answered Grael who was very pleased with the results of the spell, "with practice you will be able to both maintain your focus with Shadow-cat as well as pick up some of what she perceives with her other senses."

"Now," he continued, "let's sit down by the fire, grab a drink, since you are certain to have a headache, and we can discuss some of the finer points of the spell."

Willow and her teacher proceeded to spend the rest of the morning deep in conversation on the various aspects of working with a familiar and what the limitations were. Willow learned that if she died that Shadow-cat would also die, that for the first few weeks the interaction would be very limited, however, she would eventually be able to virtually take over shadow-cat and direct her to places that Willow and not the cat wanted. Eventually Buffy and Amana had to come over to pry Willow away and send the younger women off to dinner with Bridie and Aiofe who had arrived several minutes earlier to announce that it was time for the meal.

After the foursome had left to dine, Amana sat in the spot recently occupied by Willow.

"Very productive morning," she said after a few moments, "I'm especially pleased that Willow was able to successfully cast the familiar spell."

"So was I," replied the other mage, "and on her first attempt to do the spell."

"Impressive," Amana said, "most mages take four or five attempts to do the spell."

"She's is definitely not most mages," answered Grael, "I am beginning to think that soon she will be beyond my skill to teach her anything."

"Time to accelerate and intensify the training then," said Amana, "come, dear, we will discuss this over dinner."

At that, the two older mages headed out to their own dinner, deep in conversation.

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Later on that afternoon Willow and Buffy were in the training halls working on group tactics with Daithi and the guardsmen. The training halls were a series of practice arenas, classrooms, barracks and armouries, which encompassed the entire back third of the castle complex. The women were currently in the largest of the practice arenas; it was a three-story chamber approximately thirty meters by sixty. The floor was a combination of wood, stone and sand - since there was very few windows set into the scared walls, lighting was provided by several huge lanterns hanging from the vaulted ceiling and eight fireplaces, each large enough to roast a small cow.

Willow had trained very hard and diligently over the last ten days, she had swiftly picked up the fundamentals of hand-to-hand combat and with concentrated one-on-one training had gained self-confidence in her talents. What the two women were now working on was cooperative manoeuvres, in a simulated town environment complete with houses, shops and other forms of defensive and offensive cover. The two women were working for the most part back-to-back in order that Buffy could concentrate on the fight without having to spend too much attention on Willow.

Willow was using her enhanced perception to keep aware of dangers and then to communicate them to Buffy. Buffy was also trying to use her new spell in a defensive effort while keeping up with her attacks. Shadow-cat was also involved; she was keeping to the edge of the practice arena, every so often Willow would link with her to gain additional skill and confidence in working with her familiar.

Unknown to the various people in the training hall their activities were being monitored by someone who was not at all in favour of the activities going on. The suspicious dark man, who had been stalking the halls earlier that day, was watching from an upstairs gallery the workout taking place below. He had successfully drugged one of the cooks that morning and had been finally able to obtain some information on what had been going on in the mage's wing for the last couple of weeks. He had been stunned by the information, not only was his master correct about the potential for harm to their campaign, but the two world travellers working out in the arena below were potentially the greatest threat that he had yet faced. He had decided to take matters into his own hands; he had therefore ordered one of his spies to arrange an 'accident' for the two women in their practice today. Hopefully the accident would give him and his master the time to complete their plans for this world. He was staying up out of the way, to observe the results, and to be in a position to make a quick getaway if things turned out to be unpleasant for him.

Willow was really getting into the practice this afternoon, she was working well with Buffy and it appeared that she was always anticipating which direction they would be moving in. Buffy was also in high spirits, first because her lover was really in the grove, and was providing not only excellent intelligence but also backup - they were simulating Willow's spells on the guardsmen. Buffy also felt that today she was reacting almost instantly to Willow's warnings, in some cases it seemed like she was reacting as Willow spoke. Buffy's use of her spell shield was also improving with practice, it was still not instantaneous, and it still had a tendency to collapse at inopportune moments. Buffy, however, had used it successfully on occasion to block one quadrant of potential attacks, and that combined with Willow watching her back resulted in only two avenues to defend, all in all a major improvement, with the potential of survivability in future battles greatly increased.

Willow was at that moment trying once again to use her link with Shadow-cat. So far that afternoon it had proven useful, on occasion, to have a different perspective on the battle. It had given her some additional time to warn her partner, and had allowed her to see beyond the immediate area and into areas of cover, which were not visible to the two women.

$Grey, sharp, empty of humans,$ Willow saw with eyes other than her own.

"I'm going to have to get used to this," Willow thought as she looked around with two sets of eyes, one, her own, on the area immediately in front of her, and the other, Shadow-cat's, at a location near the back of the training areas. "It's either that, or go crazy," she mumbled to herself.

$Human, fear smell, there, - small human, not guardsman, servant$ Willow saw and smelled, someone enter the training area from the rear of the complex, he was not familiar, not that she new everyone, far from it, but that he was not dressed like a guardsman, in fact he was dressed like a cook, complete with an apron and a rather large knife.

"Hugh," asked Grael as he entered the gallery above the training hall, "what are you doing here?"

Grael had decided to come by and watch the two world travellers in their workout, to try and get a sense of how they were proceeding in a non-magical area. He was not happy to see Hugh d'Troville also apparently watching the activities of the two women. He still did not fully trust the man, even though Daithi had vetted him and even though he had worked without incident in the Castellan's office for the last six months or so. Grael had been keeping the existence of Willow and Buffy away from most of the castle community, having Hugh here could only mean that word had leaked out.

"Good afternoon Sir," replied Hugh as he gave a curt bow, inwardly seething at having been found watching what was supposed to be a closely guarded activity, "I was just supervising some inventories in this area when I heard the noise and came by to investigate."

"Hmm," thought Grael, "I wonder if that is completely the truth."

"Well, what do you think of what you have seen," he asked the smaller man.

"Impressive," the other replied, "they are certainly very competent in practice," he added after a moments pause.

At that moment there was a piercing scream from the arena. Both men turned back to the gallery balcony to look at what was going on below.

A few moments before...

$Human, knife, fear smell, what is it going to do to my human, fear, hurt human$

Willow had sensed that this unknown person who had been sneaking around in the back of the training area was not pleased to be there, and in fact was rather afraid to be there. However, at that moment she was rather preoccupied with six of the guardsmen trying a simultaneous attack on Buffy and her. So she had not warned Buffy of this stranger, figuring that he was just trying to grab an illicit look at what was going on.

$KNIFE, throw knife$

"What," Willow screamed as she finally sorted out all of the images coming from Shadow-cat, "Buffy!!!!" she yelled, as she threw herself in front of the knife that had been thrown by the mysterious cook, who at that moment was also screaming, this time in pain, from the scratching and biting that was being inflicted on him by an enraged feline.

"Willow!!!!" screamed Buffy as she turned from the battle to see her soul mate laying on the floor with a thirty centimetre cooks knife protruding from her chest and with her lifeblood pooling on the floor beneath her.

Buffy quickly bent down beside Willow and applied pressure on the wound. "Someone, do something," she yelled to the group of people who were quickly forming a circle around the pair on the floor.

"Buffy," replied Daithi softly, "Buffy, she's gone, there is nothing we can do the knife entered her chest right near the heart."

"She can't go," pleaded the slayer, "she is everything to me."

Willow was not yet dead, she was, however, very close to it, "Buffy," she whispered, "Buffy are you there?"

"Yes love, I'm here," she replied, "don't struggle, I'll get some help."

"There's no time for me," the redhead replied weakly, "I'm going to the Goddess, but know that I have always loved you...," she fell silent as she lapsed into unconsciousness.

"No," exclaimed the determined slayer, "no, I will not accept this." Buffy looked with her second eyes and immediately dove into the energies that surrounded everything and everyone.

"Those medalling mages are always saying that Will and I are soul-mates and that we are tied together," she said to herself, "lets just see how tied we are," as she used her recently found talent to perceive the magical energies, and the links between them to search out and find the ties that bound her to Willow.

"Where are they," she muttered to herself as she totally detached from reality and plunged into her task. She quickly found that there were several ties to Willow and that they were going dim as the life force was sucked from her. However, there was one tie that was both large and complex, which Buffy could tell, intuitively, was the one that tied the two of them together.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," she thought to herself, "but this is either going to cure her, or kill us both."

Buffy then used some of the biofeedback tools that she had been using with her spell shield and combined it with the depth of her love for the other woman and used the link to pour life sustaining energy into Willow. At the same time, she tried to extend her own ability to self-heal to what she was doing for Willow. She expanded her awareness and, without knowing how she did it, looked deep inside of her lover. She was able to tell that the knife had not penetrated the heart; however, it had nicked one of the major arteries. Buffy pulled the knife out of Willow's chest and tried to apply her healing abilities directly on the wound, without success. She rapidly became frantic with panic, her lover was passing away in her arms and there seemed to be nothing she could do.

Suddenly a thought came to her, and without thinking twice she acted on it. Buffy reinforced the energy link between her and Willow, and, without a concern for the consequences, forced herself to spiritually and psychologically follow with the power that was flowing between the two of them.

Buffy's mind exploded with the impact of the jumbled thoughts of Willow. She saw, and experienced what Willow saw. She remembered what Willow remembered, and she felt the agonizing pain that Willow was feeling. She also saw, and felt, a lifetime of Willow's experiences, the fears, the love. She saw the truth of Willow's love for her, and the depth of the emotions she felt for her. Using all of her experience to block out the pain, Buffy quickly forced Willow's body to accelerate the healing process, using the energy it was getting directly from the slayer. Buffy could see the results, the tear in the artery closed and healed. Willow's heartbeat, which had been erratic with the reduced blood flow, strengthened, as the healing process that Buffy had hastened created new blood for her. Then the wound in Willow's chest began to seal itself together and began to heal.

$Buffy,$ the slayer heard, $what are you doing?$

$Shush,$ she replied to herself, realizing that somehow the two of them could essentially read each other's mind.

$Buffy!!$ The other exclaimed mentally, $what are you doing in my mind?$

$Healing you, silly,$ Buffy replied with relief as she collapsed in exhaustion, her body nearly drained from the effort that it had been put through. Buffy's desperate gamble had worked, however it appeared that there had been one or two unexpected side effects.

Daithi realised that he had just witnessed something extraordinary. He had seen Buffy wrap Willow in her arms and then watched as she appeared to fall into a trance. What happened next staggered them all, first the blood had stopped flowing from the wound in Willow's chest, and then the wound had healed. Finally, the wounded arch-mage's breathing had stabilized as the slayer collapsed in fatigue; it appeared that Willow would not, in reality, die. Daithi quickly ordered several orderlies forward with gurneys, to take the two women to the infirmary.

Upstairs in the gallery, Hugh had watched the proceeding below in horror, not as Grael thought, in sympathy for the two women, but rather in the collapse of his plan and position. He extracted himself quickly from Grael's company and made immediate preparations to leave the castle, and the city.

Grael was too stunned to much notice of the hasty departure of Hugh; he was shocked by the attack and immediately went down to the infirmary to check on the two women. Once he had been assured that they would be fine, he left in a foul mood to find Daithi and the cook who had initiated the attack. He needed answers, and he needed them soon.

------------------------------------------

Later that night the two young women were to be found in a heavily guarded room in the infirmary. There were guards posted both inside and outside of the room. Additional guards were located at each intersection in the hallways and staircases. In addition, the patrols in the castle had been increased, and the patrols had had their frequency and patterns changed.

Meanwhile the city had been sealed and was being scoured from one end to the other for the traitor Hugh d'Troville and any of his accomplices that were still around. Daithi had little hope of finding Hugh, but he hoped that the dragnet would shake free some of the other conspirators who had not yet been able to flee the city.

$Rather like bolting the barn door after the horse has left isn't it,$ asked Willow who was occupying one of the two beds.

$Yep,$ replied Buffy, $but better safe than sorry. The information that Grael got from that cook indicates that that Hugh guy had a lot of people on his payroll.$

The two of them were still stunned by this side effect of Buffy's desperate healing action. They continued their conversation in this manner, mostly because of the novelty, but also because of the three guardsmen in the room with them.

$I feel like I'm in the zoo,$ Buffy said mentally, $if those three don't find something to do other than stare at us, I am going to scream.$

$I agree love,$ replied Willow, $but its only till tomorrow, then we can go back to our own rooms.$

$I can't wait, and I don't think that I'll be able to sleep properly if I'm not in your arms$ replied the slayer, $this is just too weird for words, though don't you think?$

The two women upon awaking had noticed that the tie between them had not gone back to the way it was before the attack, rather it appeared to be even larger and more complex than what could be explained by Buffy's actions; it was also apparent that they could move back and forth between each others thoughts and memories at will. Amana, who had been at their bedside when they awoke, explained that it was all a product of the intense emotions felt by Buffy when she was healing Willow, and also due to the deep love between them. She had advised that since each other's mind was now fully open to the other, that they immediately spend some time building a secure location in their own mind which only they could access, since even for two people as deeply in love as they were needed to keep some secrets, after all if they didn't Christmas and birthdays would be forever ruined. She had also indicated that both Grael and she had hoped for a deeper link to develop between them, not to this extent obviously since what had happened was totally unprecedented, but were intensely upset that the improvement in the link had come as a result of a traitorous attack on them.

"Meeooow," said Shadow-cat who was occupying her usual place on top of Willow's pillow. She had been pleased with the day's activities, and had been helpful in the capture of the attacker. All in all a very good day she thought to herself, she was now a familiar, and would therefore be of even greater service to her human.

"Yes, you silly feline," replied Willow, "if not for you I wouldn't have seen the attack in time."

"And then I'd be the one who might of died," replied Buffy softly.

$Its ok love,$ replied Willow, $by the way, thank-you for the Valentines gift.$

$It wasn't what I had intended,$ replied the other, $but, you're welcome.$

The two women drifted off to sleep, while deep within both the link between them, and within certain cells of their bodies, changes were occurring.


	5. Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ivy, Sam and Bill for their input and suggestions into this while it was still a work in progress; you helped me out of several plot jams. Thanks to my significant other for all of her patience and perseverance. Thanks to my family for putting up with my not being around for great lengths of time. And finally to everyone who read and commented on the draft of this work, their input was more than valuable, it kept me writing.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter V - Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est

(Knowledge Itself Is Power)

Two women were asleep in bed; however, they were not getting the relaxation they needed since their sleep was troubled. It had been ten days since the vicious and treacherous attack on them and things would not be returning to what had passed until then as normal. The suddenness of the attack, combined with the events that occurred after it, was one of the primary reasons for their sleepless nights. Both women were also exhausted due to an expanded training regime that had been put into place four days previously. They had been told that time was no longer a luxury, and that they would have to begin the work that they had been called to do within days. They had both become very concerned when told that piece of news, and each had privately wondered if they would be able to survive the upcoming exertions.

They had nearly gone insane from the extraordinary events that had occurred as a result of the attack. This was due to the continuous presence of having both of them in each other's mind and memories. The ability to know what the other knew, feel what the other felt, see what the other saw was devastating to their psyches. What saved them from total psychosis was the deep and eternal love they had for each other, combined with the tolerance and understanding of the two mages, Amana and Grael, who had spent several untiring hours over the last nine days helping the women to develop stratagems for working with each other, and with the new gift that they had been given. As a result of this hurried work, the two were able to keep some parts of their mind and memories concealed from each other. In addition, they had been able to build filters so that they would not be overwhelmed by feedback from each other. However, when they were dreaming, emotions and worries had a way of revealing themselves.

Both women were now in fact dreaming, and as had happened in previous nights, they were sharing a dream. They were walking together, hand in hand, on an endless, sunny plain where soft spring breezes were blowing through their hair. It was a safe place, with no hiding places for demons or other evil creatures and no sign of anyone other than themselves.

$Where are we,$ asked the red-haired women, now nearly unrecognisable from the person who had boldly walked into the portal just nearly four weeks previously.

She had bulked out due to the intensive exercise program she had been following, while losing a significant proportion of her body fat, simultaneous with gaining an additional twenty percent of her body mass in muscle. She was, without a doubt, in the best shape of her young life.

$Somewhere safe it looks like,$ replied the other woman.

Buffy was still physically similar to the woman who had travelled with unquestioning love her soul mate into the portal, however, internally she had changed as much as Willow had. She had gained a deeper understanding of the magical forces, which surrounded the physical world, and she had gained some significant skill in the processes used to manipulate them. She had also learned several things about herself, not the least of which was that someone had deliberately tampered with her genetic material before she had been born. The most likely suspect in both of their minds was the watcher's counsel, if so, as soon as they returned home they would be demanding answers. More importantly she had discovered that her love for Willow was complete. She would literally trust her with her life; it was both a comforting and a worrying realization of the total dependence that they had for each other.

$How you doing Buff,$ asked a concerned Willow, she too had come to realise that the other woman was the world to her, and that she would put everything on the line for her. They had, of course, discussed the attack and what Buffy had done, but words are often not enough to convey the depth of emotions they both felt for each other, $are we going to be able to cope with all of this?$

$No choice red,$ Buffy replied tenderly, $at least we won't be automatic candidates for the room with the rubber wallpaper now.$

$Thanks to Amana and Grael.$

$We do owe them a lot, but...$

$But what, love?$

$But, I think we will start repaying them soon.$

Both women stopped their dream walking and sat down on the soft grass and began to drink from the glasses of wine, which had suddenly appeared in their hands.

$I love you Red.$

$I know.$

$I mean I love you more than anything, even more than myself, and I'm worried about that.$ Buffy was expressing her most deeply suppressed thoughts through their dream, things that she herself would not have acknowledged while awake, things that were primal to her personality, things that could only surface through her subconscious into her dreams.

$What do you mean?$

$I think I love you so much that I would kill myself before placing you in the way of danger.$

Buffy, startled at the worried look of concern which crossed Willow's face, continued rapidly, $not that I'll be committing suicide any time soon, but that I would be so worried about you in any conflict that I would sacrifice myself to save you. I never want to see you taking another knife for me.$

$I wouldn't let you sacrifice yourself, and I reacted to the knife from instinct, I didn't even pause to think, and I would do it again,$ Willow replied, completely certain of her response.

She too was expressing unconscious thoughts, things that were now part of her innate being. She was internally amused at how calm the two of them were discussing this potentially life-threatening situation. She knew it was a product of the dream state they were sharing, but it also had to do with the complete and total insight that they now had for each other, which resulted in an immense depth of trust between them and faith in each other and their abilities.

$I know,$ continued the slayer, $and I think that this potential conflict might allow others the time to hurt both of us.$

$Hadn't thought about that, but what can we do?$

$Have to check with Amana, she might be able to help.$

The dream world they inhabited was now beginning to fade out as both women left REM sleep and drifted off into a deeper slumber. If there had been an observer, other than Shadow-cat, they would have noticed that the breathing of both was identical, and if they had the tools to measure them, that the pulse and heartbeat were also identical along with, to a certain extent, their brainwave patterns. Shadow-cat had also suffered from the near psychosis of her human, she was almost not able to cope with the kaleidoscope of images she was receiving and had stopped eating for three days. Only when Willow had started to gain control of her mind, was Shadow-cat able to gain control of hers. She had spent the last few days resting and eating to regain her strength.

Shortly thereafter, the door to their suite was opened by one of the two guardsmen, who were now always stationed on duty, to allow the entrance of Amana, Grael, Aiofe and Bridie. The four quickly crossed the sitting room and entered Buffy and Willow's bedroom. Grael answering Shadow-cat's questioning look with a quiet "shush, its ok." They quickly arranged themselves around the bed.

"Is this going to work," Amana asked, as she looked down on the two young women hoping that what the four of them were about to do would be productive, even if it skirted the edge ethically.

"It has to," Grael replied, as he too privately wondered about what they were going to attempt.

"They need our help," protested Aiofe, positive that what they were going to do was right.

She had watched with first concern and then relief the internal struggles that Buffy and Willow had undergone. She now had even greater admiration and respect, not only for their formidable skills but also for their obvious love and devotion to each other.

"But," continued Grael, "what we propose to do still troubles me. We are doing nothing directly to them, but entering their dream could be interpreted as interfering with them."

"It's not like we are going to force our way in," answered Bridie, "I mean, we are going to ask, doesn't that make the difference?"

"Technically," the older woman replied, "but it is an action which is very close to the edge."

"Enough," Grael interjected, his own internal worries settled, "we have thrashed this out in counsel for the last three hours and we came to the unanimous decision to proceed."

What the four mages were about to accomplish was difficult under the best of circumstances. Given the current, unprecedented situation it could be impossible. However, the mage's counsel had come to the conclusion that they had no choice in the matter but to proceed and hope for success. They were faced with potentially the greatest boon or bane their world had ever seen; they therefore needed additional information. Of primary concern to them were the intentions of the two young women; since, due in part to the attack on them, their magic potential had increased, not linearly as Amana and Grael had predicted, but exponentially.

Willow was now more powerful than any of the mages who reported to the counsel, and Buffy was as powerful in her limited areas, since it appeared that she was able to draw on, in a limited manner, the abilities and knowledge that Willow had. Buffy was still very unskilled in the practice of her magical abilities, but that situation was changing rapidly.

The counsel needed confirmation that Buffy and Willow would continue to work towards the eradication of the demon threat. They had worried that the events of the past few weeks would result in them regretting their decision to stay, and would lead them to demand to return home. They also worried that neither Buffy or Willow would say they wished to return, even if they did, and that would result in less than attentive mages when it came to fighting the demons.

The counsel had decided to take the step of entering Buffy and Willow's dreams; in order to obtain what they hoped was an unbiased and instinctive response from them to their questions. Amana and Grael were going to attempt to send Aiofe and Bridie into the dream, since they were familiar figures to the two travellers, while they stayed behind to conduct the transfer and to watch over them.

"Ok, Aiofe, Bridie get into bed with them, and make yourselves comfortable," Amana ordered softly, "once you are settled in, Grael and I will put you under."

Within moments both young women were in bed, one on each side of Buffy and Willow, since they had arrived already dressed for bed. Grael and Bridie with a soft "cadley trome" quickly sent both of them to sleep.

"Now we watch and wait for Buffy and Willow to enter dream sleep," commented Amana after a few minutes of watching to insure that none of the four women would wake from the activities that had been going on.

Within the half-hour it became apparent that Willow and Buffy were about to enterer REM sleep again. The two senior mages quickly induced REM sleep in Aiofe and Bridie and then worked together to complete the spell that would transfer their sleeping consciousness into the dream world of Buffy and Willow. They then sat down and waited for the results. Hopefully their assistance would not be required further and that Aiofe and Bridie would enter the dream and then leave it, as planned, once the four women left REM sleep.

Willow and Buffy had returned to their shared dream world. This time however, they were back home in their dorm at UC Sunnydale. They were both sitting at their desks and studying, while listening to Celtic folk music on the radio. All was not quite normal however. For one thing, both women were naked, and for a second, both appeared to be twins. It was still possible, somehow, to tell Willow from Buffy, however, for all intents and purposes they were identical.

$Back home, I guess,$ Willow commented, $not much has changed.$

$We're naked,$ replied the slayer.

$Well, that's true, but, this is a dream,$ said Willow as she stood up from her desk and walked over to the other side of the room where Buffy was.

Willow proceeded to stroke Buffy, softly running her hands over her back and through her hair.

$Hey,$ she said as she looked at the two of them in the mirror, $we look the same.$

$Feedback from the magic, I guess.$

Just then there was a knock on the door.

$Who can that be,$ wondered the slayer.

$I'll check,$ replied Willow as she went over to the door. As she approached the door it became transparent and the room's occupants could see that both Aiofe and Bridie were on the other side of it.

$What are they doing here?$

$Don't know Will,$ replied a now fully clothed Buffy, $why don't you ask them.$

Willow, now also dressed, turned back to the open door and asked, $ladies, what are you doing here?$

Aiofe glanced over at Bridie, and receiving her go-ahead nod, replied with the traditional, $Lady, I beseech you to allow us entrance to your domain.$

$Say what?$

$We have been sent to walk with you in your dreams,$ replied Bridie, $but before we can enter, we must have your permission.$

$Why are you here,$ asked Buffy figuring it was ok, so far, since her usually reliable spidey sense, which indicated nearby trouble, was not tingling.

$To ask you questions, and to seek clarification,$ answered Aiofe.

$Well, Buff,$ said Willow, $I see, no problems.$

$Nor I, let them in,$ she replied, trusting that the ladies only had good intentions.

With that, the other two young women entered the room, which then changed to the mage's study in Castle Maldor.

$Weird,$ commented the slayer as she looked around their new surroundings and sat down in her accustomed place before the fireplace.

$I'll say,$ replied the arch-mage as she to sat down with the others. $Ok, what are you doing in our dream?$

$Amana and Grael have sent us, and are currently watching over

us, to ask some questions of your subconscious minds,$ replied

Aiofe.

$Questions,$ asked Buffy, $why don't they just ask us when we are awake?$

$Because the two of you are now so powerful, that when alert, you could mask untruths,$ answered Bridie, $and the mage's counsel needs some questions answered before we start on your assignment.$

$What questions,$ asked Willow, thinking "what 'we'."

$Simply, if you both still share the desire to purge this world of the demons who plague us,$ replied Aiofe, $or do you wish to abandon us and return to your own world?$

$And why ask in our dreams,$ asked Buffy still not totally paying attention to the situation.

$It's felt that in ones dreams, the subconscious wouldn't lie,$ replied Aiofe.

$Oh,$ replied the slayer, $well I guess this is an easy one, right Will?$

$Yep love,$ answered the redhead, $what we started, we will finish.$

$Excellent,$ commented Bridie.

$Besides,$ continued Buffy and Willow simultaneously, $everyone here has given us so much to be thankful for, and we've learned so much, we just couldn't leave you now.$

As they finished their conversation, the dream world once again faded out as the four women went into a deeper sleep.

Grael and Amana had watched the four women very carefully, and when the breathing of all four had become synchronized they knew that they had been successful in inserting Aiofe and Bridie into the dream state of Willow and Buffy. Once it had become apparent that the four women had left REM sleep and had fallen back to normal deep sleep the turned away and left the bedroom.

"We'll have to wait until morning now," commented Amana as they knocked softly on the suit's door to signal to the guardsmen to let them leave, "we will check with Aiofe and Bridie once they have awakened."

"That should not be too long now," answered Grael, yawning as he did so, "its almost dawn now, and Buffy will probably wake just at dawn as is her usual practice."

"We still have to meet with Daithi and the other military commanders before breakfast and get an update on that urgent dispatch they received just as the counsel meeting adjourned," continued a very tired Amana, "I will be very thankful once we get going, at least you and I will have a chance for a decent nights sleep then."

"I wouldn't count on it," replied Grael. The senior mage paused for a moment then continued, "you know what we have done here tonight will bring these four even closer together."

"I'm counting on it," said Amana as they continued walking to their next meeting.

-----------------------------------------------

Buffy, as was her practice, woke up with the sun, yawning and thinking that she was still not getting a good night sleep, what with all the strange dreams she had been having. As she woke, she realised that she and Willow were not alone in bed, and that maybe the bizarre dream she had had with Aiofe and Bridie in it was not so odd after all. She carefully disentangled herself from Aiofe and Willow, who had both wrapped themselves around her, and sat up in bed.

"Strange," she thought, "maybe the dream wasn't just Willow's and my subconscious performing tricks again, and it looks like they did actually come to visit us last night."

Buffy then sent a mental inquiry to her lover, $Will, wake up sleepy head, we have company.$

"This telepathy stuff can be useful," she thought, "If we weren't so principled, it could be really useful in tests."

$Bad Buffy,$ interjected Willow still semi-sleeping with her eyes closed and snuggled into Bridie, $you know that isn't even something we should even be thinking about. What guests?$

$If you would open you eyes, sleepy, you would see.$

$I see just fine through your eyes love, ooh, warm bodies, I like warm bodies, I guess they did visit us in the dream then.$

$Looks like. Best get the day going, Red.$

$Aw, some times lover you are a party pooper.$

$We don't know if they are into that, you unquenchable you,$ Buffy commented dryly.

With that, the two travellers separated themselves both physically and mentally and started to get out of bed. Fortunately, or unfortunately, they made enough sound to rouse the other two women.

"Good morning ladies," Aiofe said as she sat up in bed rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "did you sleep well?"

"Yes, we did," replied Willow, "I take it then that you two have been keeping secrets from us?"

"Huh," cut in the now confused slayer, $Willow, love, what are you talking about?$

$Later, besides its not polite to talk, even this way, behind other's backs,$ "It's just that in order for the two of them to enter our minds Buffy, even if we were asleep at the time, they have to be mages."

"Oh," replied Buffy, "I guess that makes a certain amount of sense."

"Yes, we have been a wee bit reticent," answered Bridie, who had just woken up, "and we beg you apology for not revealing this to you earlier."

"Ok, what gives," asked Buffy?

"When you came over," answered Bridie, "it was felt by the mage's counsel that since you were a totally unknown quantity, it would be best to have a couple of mages assigned to you as your servants."

"It was felt," continued Aiofe, "that since you were going to require servants, and most likely bodyguards, that two mages, albeit apprentice ones, would be better than two normals."

"We just began our instruction a year ago," added Bridie, "and we are not even half as talented as even Buffy is."

"So," asked a more than slightly irate Willow not that mollified by knowing she was dealing with very junior mages, "just what have you been reporting back to the counsel?"

"Nothing that you weren't already telling Amana and Grael," responded Aiofe, "in fact, it was your complete lack of guile about what you were doing that led us to our little adventure last night."

"The counsel needed to have one last affirmation of your intentions," continued Bridie, "before today's briefing."

"Ok," replied Willow, "I guess," she was still not totally happy with the news they had received. However, she reasoned that she would have probably done the same thing if she had been on the mage's counsel.

"Briefing," asked Buffy, "what briefing?"

"After your morning routine, and breakfast," replied Bridie, "we will be given a briefing in Amana's workroom. To begin to get us up to speed on what we will need to know in order to get ready for the mission you came here to do; before we head out in three days or so."

"Head out," squeaked Willow, "I thought we had at least a week or so, we aren't ready, I'm not ready."

"Easy, love," said Buffy, as she wrapped her friend and lover in a warm and supportive hug, "lets get the day going, we will talk about all of this later with Amana and Grael."

"May we join you," asked Aiofe.

"Fine with me," replied Buffy as she headed out to the sitting room to begin the day with the usual exercise routines.

-----------------------------------------------

Later that morning four young women were relaxing in a hot bath having just finished a demanding morning workout. The shared exercise had allowed them to start to bond with each other. Buffy and Willow had also realised during the workout routines that the other two women were very fit, they had learned that before they had become mages, Aiofe and Bridie had first trained as guardsmen, a practice that most of the mages had followed. The four women had passed the time while doing the various exercises discussing their lives and various experiences. They were all keyed up, by both the morning's activities, and by their shared realization of the future. They all knew that in at most a few days they would be leaving the security of the castle and be heading out to face battle with untold numbers of foes. They were joking and laughing, and indulging in a little harmless horseplay, resulting in a rapidly flooding bathroom.

"Aiofe, you witch," yelled Buffy as she was splashed with soapy water, "I'll get you for that!"

Buffy moved over to where Aiofe was sitting and proceeded to try to dunk her underwater.

"Bridie, help," Aiofe called as she tried, mostly unsuccessfully to avoid being dunked, "I'm losing."

"Coming," the other dark-haired women said as she moved across the bath to help her comrade.

With that a general free for all play battle was underway in the bath. Within a few minutes it became apparent to all of them that they were getting more than a little excited by the play. In fact, the atmosphere in the room was becoming charged with sexual excitement and tension. Willow paused for a moment then, suddenly kissed a startled Aiofe.

She broke the kiss with a soft, "you ok," and moved a short distance away.

"Yes," Aiofe said slightly confused, unknown to Willow and Buffy she and Bridie had been lovers for years, but she was now feeling an unbelievable attraction to the red-haired woman before her, "confused, but I'm ok."

"Confused," Willow continued, "I can deal with confused." Willow proceeded to softly caress the silky-smooth cheek of the other woman, "I guessed that you had done that before."

"Yes, I... I mean we, have, but why?"

$Yes lover, why,$ Buffy sent as she was suddenly confronted with Bridie moving towards her, arousal in her eyes.

$Later,$ Willow cautioned as she embraced Aiofe,

"Instinct," she answered Aiofe, "I mean that, well, I guess what I want to say is that you two will be coming with us, you are supposed to help, and I guess, look out for us, and I needed to trust my instincts about you," Willow looked questioningly into the other woman's jade eyes, hoping to find the needed understanding.

Bridie had taken the opportunity to take an unresisting Buffy into her arms and continued with a passionate tongue-entangling kiss. Buffy decided to throw caution to the winds and started to stroke the other woman, working her fingers down from her neck to the soft sides of her breasts. She cupped a breast in each hand and then began to kiss and lick the aureoles, gently teasing the nipples erect. Bridie was not stopping her attentions towards the slayer, she moved her fingers down the blond woman's body and continued around her sides to reach underneath and grasp her firm, muscular buttocks. She proceeded to gently squeeze each in turn while she reached down with her mouth to find once again the soft lips of the slayer.

Willow had proceeded to tenderly attack Aiofe, she had sat the other woman on the edge of the bath and was proceeding to kiss her way up the inside of her thighs, alternating from one leg to the other. She reached Aiofe's cleft, and began to tease her, by tenderly kissing and licking each of her labia in turn, being cautious to stay away from her rapidly engorging clitoris. Aiofe began to quietly whimper from Willow's actions, and tried repeatedly to manoeuvre her clit into the others mouth, however, the arch-mage was able to anticipate her every move and stay away from the sensitive spot, in order to delay her climax. Finally Aiofe could take no more and begged, "Willow please, please, I have to come, please let me finish." With that soft pleading, Willow relented and sucked the enlarged clit into her soft mouth, gently scraping it with her teeth while stimulating its tip with her tongue. Aiofe exploded with a series of body pulsating orgasms, wave after wave of vibrations surged through her body as she nearly passed out from the experience.

Willow looked up at Aiofe, licking juices off her face, "happy," she asked with a little smile on her face.

"Ecstatic," the other woman replied, "here, let me help you," she continued as she bent over and began to lick Willow's face clean, "now its my turn," she said as she gently forced the red-haired woman onto her back on the bathroom floor.

"Oh, goody!"

Bridie meanwhile had taken a different approach. She had continued her attentions to Buffy's rear, and had begun to suck on each of the slayer's nipples in turn. Buffy was thoroughly enjoying the attention, and the alteration of slight pain and pleasure. What happened next surprised the slayer; Bridie took a deep breath and plunged her head under the water. She proceeded to move between Buffy's thighs and then blew onto her clit. The sensation of having air bubbles and moving water on her clitoris caused her to squirm in pleasure.

As Bridie came up for air, Buffy pulled her towards her, kissed her softly and whispered, "let's go to bed, I want to be comfortable."

The two women quickly dried off, briefly noticing the activities of the other two, before heading off to the bedroom. Once there they quickly arranged themselves into a sixty-nine and proceeded to simultaneously stimulate each other. Bridie had one more surprise for the slayer, as she was taking long, cat-like licks of Buffy's labia and clitoris she carefully inserted one of her long fingers deep into her vagina; when she had lubricated the finger she then moved her hand between Buffy's ass cheeks and, after pausing for a moment to spread the cheeks apart, slowly penetrated her asshole.

"Ooh," Buffy exclaimed into Bridie's crotch, "that's nasty, nasty but it feels amazing."

"Ah," the other woman said as she paused in her digital assault for a second, "a virgin."

"NO, yes, I mean," babbled an increasingly excited Buffy, "I'm not a virgin, but that is the first..."

"Shush, dear," soothed Bridie, "I'll be gentle."

Buffy was suffering an avalanche of emotions and sensations; she was being penetrated anally for the first time, and was torn between the pleasure of the new sensation and feelings of shame from her upbringing which said that the actions of the other woman were wrong. She was also receiving feedback from Willow, and the waves of pleasure she was going through; since everything that she had learned in the past few days about filtering the flow between them was shattered from her own rapidly dissolving self control, all in all a very confusing mental picture which rapidly dissolved into a chaotic jumble of thoughts as she experienced a titanic climax, simultaneously with Bridie.

"There," Bridie said softly, "that wasn't too bad, was it?"

"No, but," Buffy said, still confused by all the reactions she was experiencing, "I'm not sure why I feel both pleased and shamed."

"It's probably due to the way you were raised," commented the other woman as she turned Buffy around and enveloped her in a loving embrace, "most people are told anything to do with your rear is dirty, and shameful, but it is awfully nice sometimes. You will decide if you like it or not, after all it is your body."

"Well, mostly," replied the slayer, "now, with the little incident we went through, I share my body with Willow and she shares hers with me."

"What's that love," replied a very satisfied looking Willow. She looked like a red-haired cat that had just eaten the canary; a canary which was currently holding her hand. "I trust that you had a good time, at least you seemed to from the feedback I was getting." Willow and Aiofe proceeded to get into bed with the other two women, each giving their respective soul mates a deep kiss and hug.

"Yes," replied the slayer a few minutes later, "all in all a great way to start the day. But, I have to ask, why did you start this?"

"As I told Aiofe," answered Willow, "I just went with my instincts."

"Good instincts," replied Buffy, "now, however, ladies, I think that we better re-bath, and get the day going, after all we probably have a couple of senior mages or so waiting for us not so patiently at breakfast.

With that the four women got out of bed and quickly washed themselves. As they were drying off, and getting out clothing for the day, Willow turned to Aiofe, and commented, "I trust that the 'fiction' of you being maids can be dispensed with now and Buffy and I can go back to dressing ourselves?"

"Yes, and no," replied the other woman, "I mean that after today we won't be your maids, however, all of us will have servants, so you will get two real servants to help you."

"Joy," replied Buffy sarcastically, "I do hope, however, that after this morning's activities that you two will move in here with us?"

"If you'll have us," replied Bridie.

"You bet," bubbled Willow, "it will be great, x-rated sleepovers."

The four women quickly finished dressing and headed off to breakfast and the rest of the day's activities.

-----------------------------------------------

Breakfast that morning was strained and hurried; the four women noticed that most of the people present were eating very quickly, not like a normal morning. In addition, the staff was looking very apprehensive; they were doing their jobs with the minimum of attention required.

"What's up," wondered Buffy aloud.

"Don't know," replied Aiofe, "but the servants usually know something is up before anyone else, and they all look very worried."

After breakfast the four women were approached by a page and asked to assemble in the mage's study, along with all of the other mages in residence in the castle, instead of going to Amana's workroom. Once they had settled in, with mugs of hot mead, Grael and Amana moved to the front of the very crowded room and began the meeting.

"Welcome all," Grael said as everyone else turned to face him, "We have called this meeting to bring you all up to date on events that have been happening throughout the country overnight."

That had the immediate effect of focusing everyone's attention on the older man. Grael was haggard, it appeared that he had not slept in days, and lines of worry etched his face, if anything Amana looked worse, her eyes were bloodshot and her skin was pasty white. Everyone had known for days that something big was about to happen, what with the constant meetings between the senior mages, the counsel and various military officials in addition to the time that Amana and Grael had been spending with the two visitors. It now appeared that they were going to be provided with details on what had been happening.

Amana now took up the briefing, "the senior counsel has been in meetings with our military advisors," she said as she pointed out two obviously military men at the back of the room, "and can tell you this. The demon forces arrayed against us have appeared to have started a major initiative designed to disrupt our society totally, and perhaps even lead to the annihilation of humankind."

With that statement, soft murmurings of excitement and worry broke out in the room. Grael let the room continue its discussions for a moment before continuing; "I have asked General Peter Humphries to continue the briefing for us."

"Sirs and Ladies," began the General from the back of the room as he slowly made his way forward. He was a tall, nearly two hundred centimetres, and wiry man with short-cropped silver hair. Every centimetre of him screamed military, from his bearing to his battle hardened eyes.

"Last night the enemy began a massive staged attack on the costal plains south of us, with the obvious intent to draw out our main forces for a pitched battle; in addition several groups of demons have begun guerrilla operations in what we thought until now was our secure rear."

He moved to the front of the room where he uncovered several maps that had been set on easels. The maps were covered with obscure symbols representing the various force distributions and the direction and strength of the major demon attacks. "However," he continued, "it appears that they have been rushed in their preparations," he looked over tellingly at Buffy and Willow, "due to the botched assassination attempt on our visitors earlier this month, and the realization that we now knew that our security had been compromised." He pointed out several areas on the map which had had limited, if any, demon activity, "from what we know so far it appears that the demon leadership has taken the 'strike now, strike hard and hope that we were unprepared strategy...' unfortunately for them, we were ready."

"Can you give us some additional details," Grael asked.

"Some," replied the General, "in most cases we have been able to at least hold back the demons long enough for the civilian population to retreat to safe areas," he pointed out these areas on the maps, "in other areas we have been able to stop them cold."

"However, there is one area of concern."

"That is," asked a concerned Amana.

"Here," he said pointing out one area of the map where a red arrow, indicating a major demon offensive, was pointed like a dagger at the Capital, and the castle, "we were totally caught out of position for this attack, and it appears that they have massively increased the pre-attack forces available for it."

"Why have they done that," asked a very alarmed slayer.

"You," replied the General.

"Oh."

"So what are we going to do," asked a troubled Frankel, "are we evacuating, or are we fighting?"

"We fight," answered Grael for the General, "that has never been in question, however, we will do two additional things."

"They are," asked another of the senior mages in the room, a small woman with flowing purple hair.

"We will evacuate as many civilians as we can and we will launch a series of diversionary attacks to slow the demons down," replied General Humphries, "in addition, we have accelerated our plans to use our visitors, and we will be sending them out to start sealing the transfer portals as soon as we can. This will have three desired results, one it should demoralize the demon leadership, two it will start to stem the flow of their reinforcements and three it will let them know that the objects of the attack on the capital are no longer here, that we hope will result in their breaking off the attack, and allow us additional time to regroup."

"How soon is soon," asked a worried Willow.

"Tomorrow, and I must add, if you fail we may not be able to stop them from overrunning the castle, and the balance of our forces."

"Oh," replied Willow, echoing the comment of her lover a few minutes earlier.

"What's the plan," asked Buffy, now going into full battle planning mode, all worries submerged back into her subconscious for the moment.

Grael answered, "I believe that you now know that Aiofe and Bridie are mages and have also been assigned to guard you," receiving answering nods from the two travellers he continued, "well they will accompany you on this little adventure. Also, Amana and I will join you and we will have a company of Daithi's guardsmen along as backup."

"Ok," replied the slayer, "that answers, who and when - we already knew why, now what and where?"

"You already know what we have to accomplish," replied Amana, "and the first location we will try is about two days north of the castle."

"Now for my question," Willow asked softly, "How?"

"That is for you to decide," Grael answered carefully, "based on what we find at each site."

"Oh," replied the arch-mage."

"I take it you will be leading this circus," Buffy asked, only slightly sardonically.

"Oh no," replied the older mage.

"Who, then," asked Willow, already fearing the answer.

"You will dear," replied Amana, "you are after all, the arch-mage."

"Oh," replied Willow for the third time that morning.

The meeting immediately broke up into smaller groups to discuss specifics of the defence of humankind. Willow and Buffy meet with Daithi, Amana, Grael, Aiofe and Bridie for the rest of the morning discussing specifics of the route they would be taking, the supplies they would need and spending some additional time in the library hastily researching the transfer points and any weaknesses about them. They decided that travelling fast and light would be their best defensive move. Willow had also taken her first command decision and decided, after much debate and argument from Daithi and Grael, to limit the number of guardsmen coming along to four, reasoning that with fewer people travelling together it would raise less attention to their activities. When he was finally convinced of the argument, Daithi decided that he would be one of the four guardsmen.

After a hurried lunch, which they all ate in the study, Willow's strike force went down to the training halls in order to requisition their arms and armour. They had already decided on leather body-armour, swords and light shields. Buffy also made arrangements for her usual supply of stakes, and a crossbow. They had decided to travel by horse, and therefore carried only the minimum amount of supplies that they would need. Grael believed that they would be able to find shelter most days, since no two villages or towns were more than a day apart.

The conversation at dinner that evening had been subdued, few people wishing to bring work to the table, yet reluctant to discuss anything else; most people had therefore eaten quickly and headed off to obtain as much sleep as they could. In the morning the majority of the mages would be heading off to provide support to the various battle companies, the balance would be remaining behind to advise senior members of the government and the military. Aiofe and Bridie told the other two young women that they would prefer to sleep in their own chamber that night. Neither Buffy nor Willow had to be told why; they knew and felt the same way.

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Later that evening Willow and Buffy lay awake in each other's arms. They had made quiet gentle love and were now in the semi-wakeful period before sleep.

$You ok,$ Buffy asked her soul mate, wanting to use the intimacy of the mind-to-mind contact.

$No,$ replied her very flustered lover, $I mean yes, but...$

$Worried?$

$More than that, I am scared stiff. Here we are, about to go traipsing through the woods, with me in charge. I mean how am I supposed to lead, I can't even get myself organised, let alone watch out for eight other people.$

$Nine,$ replied the slayer, unhelpfully.

$Eight, you I would worry about even if I weren't leading this show.$

$You will be fine,$ reassured Buffy, $you will have Grael, Amana and Daithi to help, and I will always be there to support you.$

$I know, but what if I make a blunder and everyone suffers, especially you.$

$You'll make mistakes, hopefully nothing major and you'll learn. I will trust your judgement and help you with everything.$

The two lovers began to slip off to sleep, just before she went under for the evening Willow sent one last question off to Buffy, $hey, slay-girl, you still conscious?$

$Yep.$

$I was just thinking.$

$Dangerous.$

$I mean, we have been on the same cycle and regular as clockwork for months now, and I'm late by three days or so.$

$So am I,$ replied her lover, with a sudden realization of the obvious.

$Oh,$ as the two finally drifted off to the arms of Morpheus for the evening, the unanswered questions would have to wait until morning.

"Meow," called Shadow-cat as she jumped up onto the bed after having successfully hunted for the evening.

She happily thought to herself as she burrowed into her usual place on the pillows, "Meow, my human is having a kitten."

Deep within the bodies of both young women, a ball of rapidly dividing cells lodged into their uterine walls.


	6. Dux Femina Facti

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ivy, Sam and Bill for their input and suggestions into this while it was still a work in progress; you helped me out of several plot jams. Thanks to my significant other for all of her patience and perseverance. Thanks to my family for putting up with my not being around for great lengths of time. And finally to everyone who read and commented on the draft of this work, their input was more than valuable, it kept me writing.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter VI - Dux Femina Facti

(A Woman Was the Leader of the Endeavour)

In a brightly lit tavern seven people sit around a table eating supper and chatting softly. At a nearby table, four others are also sitting and eating, while keeping careful watch on the occupants of the first table. The tavern is located in an old four-story inn in the town of Smiths Crossing. The building housing the inn is a double-bricked post and beam structure with large windows and a slate roof. It was designed to serve not only the guests of the inn but also the townspeople, and is a cheery place, capable of seating forty or so people. This night the people sitting at the two tables are the only ones to occupy the common room, the other guests of the inn having eaten and retired to their rooms earlier. The trestle tables that the guests are sitting at are made of heavy pine, and their wooden captain's chairs are padded, well worn and very comfortable. The lighting is provided by three large overhead candelabras, and augmented by two large fireplaces. Outside the late winter wind howls down the streets and occasionally rattles the thick panes of window glass. The food being served by the waitresses is hot, hearty and plentiful; the inn has a reputation for providing excellent board and bread, and being only one day from the Capital it is usually full to capacity. However, these are not usual times, and everyone in the inn is aware that only the night before the demon armies had struck; even now those armies were on the way to lay siege to the Capital.

Most of the non-combatants in the city and in the surrounding towns and villages had been evacuated south, away from the approaching army. The inn was in the direct path of the approaching army, being due north of the city. It was scheduled to be evacuated in the morning, with the staff and most of the guests heading south; that is all but the guests still eating their late dinner.

The larger group are passing the time talking about several pressing issues, primarily the impending war and their role in it. They were also celebrating the news that two of their company are expecting, probably on or just before the Winter Solstice.

"I still can't believe it," Willow exclaimed to the assembled members of her strike-force, "I mean, how?"

"We've been over this love," replied Buffy, who was herself still very confused by the situation.

"I know," replied the arch-mage, "but just saying it has to do with the link between us still doesn't answer the how."

"It's the only answer we have right now though."

"But I'm not ready to be a mother," Willow said, the terror of the unknown evident in her voice, "I mean, what do I do, how do I do it?"

"I'm not ready either," Buffy said comfortingly, "but we'll deal, like we have always done."

Both women had woken up that morning with Willow's unanswered question of the night before first in their minds. They had done without their usual exercise routine and had quickly bathed and gone of in search of Amana. They had correctly assumed that the older woman would be the best person to discuss the subject with and the senior mage had not disappointed them. After a series of questions to determine if they had had any male sexual partners in the previous month, she had performed a simple pregnancy test spell, which had indicated that the two of them were somehow pregnant. After conversing briefly with Grael, the three women decided that detailed questioning would have to wait since they were leaving before noon to head north to the first hell-mouth.

The rest of the morning had been spent in hectic preparation for the trip; co-ordinating with the military for the needed communication codes, collecting Daithi and the other three guardsmen and finally packing, mounting up and heading out on the Northern road. One surprise that morning had been the addition of the Sage Frankel to the party. He had asked to join them since they would probably need his specialized knowledge for some of the work they were going to do.

Once they had left the city they initially travelled with a reinforced company of troops, which was going out to support the delaying tactics that were being employed by the army. Tactics that were being used to give Willow time to start closing the hell-mouths.

They had met a constant stream of people heading away from the impending conflict and back into the city and as a result of this traffic had only made the town of Smiths Crossing just as night was falling.

Thinking back on their journey Willow commented, "I still can't get over the people we met on the road today. I mean they were desperate, scared and trying to carry everything they owned on their backs."

"War brings out the worst in society," commented Aiofe, who was sitting between Bridie and Willow, "it is especially bad on the civilian population."

"Particularly if your enemy has sworn to kill everyone," commented Frankel, "the demons have never attempted to hide the fact that their goal is to have all humankind dead or enslaved to them."

"I guess that's where we come in," commented Willow, "I mean we, or rather I, have to give these people enough time to get to safety."

"That's work for tomorrow," Amana said, "but, I think that details can wait until we are closer to the hell-mouth. I think that we should spend some time on another subject."

"What would that be," asked Buffy.

"Well," the older woman replied tentatively, "we've never really had the time to discuss the matter, what with both you and Willow being so sick, and then the rush to get ready for this mission and all. And in truth, we don't even know if we have the right to bring it up."

"And that is?"

"The ethics of your actions towards Willow."

"What!"

"You have got to be kidding," interjected Willow dumbfounded, "I mean she healed me, when everyone else, me included, was thinking I was going to die."

"I understand," replied Grael, "but the fact of the matter is that she used magic on you without your permission, and that is against the laws of the counsel."

"The counsel be dammed," replied the offended slayer, "I did what needed to be done. Its not like I knew what I was doing."

"We understand," Amana said, "and we are not trying to reprimand you."

"It certainly sounds that way," replied a hurt Willow. It was looking like another group of people were trying to meddle in her life, again.

"Don't take us wrong Willow," pleaded Amana, "we are not angry that you were healed, it's just that as a result of Buffy's actions we have been rethinking some of our premises."

"Huh."

"We realised that our prohibition against using magic without the other person's consent had to have this situation as an exception," replied Amana, "and we are going to train other mages to become healers, since Buffy has now demonstrated that it is possible. That is if we ever get the opportunity to do so."

"Oh," said Buffy, "well as long as they don't have the side-effects Willow and I had. I can't see any harm in having other people who are able to heal."

"There is one other thing," said Grael, "that we would like to see happen."

"And that is?"

"We would like to see you initiated as soon as possible," replied the older man, "we think that it will help you and Willow in the upcoming work."

"Ok," replied the slayer, "when?"

"Tonight," replied Amana, "we will have to wait another four hours till the moon is right, so I suggest that the four of you bathe and get some rest."

"Sounds good to me," commented Willow, "after all before we crossed over to this Earth that was our plan."

"Okay by me," agreed Buffy as she stood up from the table, "let's go dears, to the baths."

With that the four young women, followed by three of the guardsmen from the other table, left the tavern and headed upstairs to their lodgings for the evening. Grael had previously arranged for the eleven of them to have four suites, however, with the rush of people trying to leave the area and head to safety the inn was over-booked so they had to make do with only two rooms. The four young women were staying in one of them, with Amana, Grael and Frankel in the other. Daithi had decided that he and his guardsmen would sleep in the hallway, in front of the doors to the rooms, as guards and as a precaution against any otherworldly intruders. The suites were luxurious, and in addition to a small sitting area, each had its own private bath.

The four women quickly bathed and headed off to their large king-sized bed. They decided that sleep was going to have to take a priority and therefore settled for snuggling into each other as they drifted off to sleep.

$You up for this Buff?$

$I guess, bit scared though.$

$How's that?$

$It's just different, that's all. I mean that when you were going to initiate me at Imbolg it was going to be with all of our friends and be something special. Here it's like rushed and almost an afterthought.$

$I'll make it special, I promise.$

$Okay, see you in a couple of hours, love.$ Buffy mentally caressed her lover with gentle loving emotions and was able to boost Willow's endorphins, just a little bit, $Oops, bad Buffy, didn't ask permission first, will you forgive me?$

$Always, for anything.$

With their brief mental conversation concluded, the two young women drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile the three older mages were deep in preparations for the upcoming ritual. They had discussed matters with the innkeeper and had arranged for the use of the tavern's common room. Currently two of the cooks were clearing out tables, while the waitresses were busy washing the floors.

"How are we going to proceed," Grael asked Amana as they were arranging candles and other items on a table that they were going to use as an improvised Alter.

"I think the best method is for us to set-up and then let Willow proceed," she replied after a moments pause.

"I agree," replied Frankel who was helping to set up the room for the evenings work by arranging improvised candle stands in the four quarters, "after all Buffy is unlikely to fully trust anyone else other than Willow, given that either you or I will have to be in the centre with them."

"You're right," agreed the other man, "with Aiofe and Bridie as our only other mages we are going to have only a half circle anyways, the fewer distractions we have to work with the better."

"Do we have everything we are going to need," asked Daithi who had just come into the tavern, after arranging security with the other guardsmen for the ritual.

"Yes," answered Amana, "what I don't have in my travel kit, I will be able to find in the kitchen here."

She paused for a moment, "given the potential for interference tonight I trust that you were planning on acting as the Summoner for the ritual?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Daithi replied, as he sat down by one of the fireplaces signalling to one of the waitresses for a beer, "I'll keep watch for now, why don't you three go on upstairs and grab a quick nap, since I have a feeling you are going to need the energy."

The other three quickly agreed that a nap would be useful and headed upstairs. Daithi then sat quietly thinking about the events that had happened, and what the group of them was planning to do. He thought over their chances and decided that they would have a good chance to close the first transfer portal, but after Willow closed it, things would get rough. He figured their chances, and by extension humanities, was about one in six in surviving long enough to close all of the hell-mouths.

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Later that evening, about a half-hour to the moon's zenith, Willow felt a soft, feather light caress on her cheek. Brushing it off with a "Shadow-cat, go away, I want to sleep," was not successful, as the touch returned.

Half waking she opened her eyes, and although she still felt the touch could not see what was causing it, $Buffy! Where are you, and what are you doing?$

$In the bath love, Amana dropped of the herbs and stuff for the ritual bath, I'm just about done, and I figured you should get up and get going.$

$Okay, okay, I'm up, but what are you doing,$ Willow was being driven to distraction since she was still feeling the light touch on her cheek and neck.

$Why caressing you.$

$But HOW.$

$Don't shout love, I'm using an extension of the shield thingy that Amana taught me. I figured it might be useful to have a tool to do things like open doors and stuff, where I might get hurt if I opened it myself.$

$Great idea, love. Now out of the bath - it's my turn now. Is everyone else done?$

"Yes sleepy head," Buffy answered, entering the bedroom, "only you are left."

"Ok then, I hope that they will let me lead tonight," Willow said, as she stripped off her sleeping attire.

"They will," Buffy replied, drying off and looking for her ritual robe in her luggage, "Aiofe was talking to Amana and was told that you will lead, and that you get to choose who else to work with you."

"Cool, I think." Willow jumped into the tepid bath and began to wash with the ritual herbs and oils.

"I don't think they are going to like my choices though," she continued cryptically.

"How's that?"

"You'll see," Willow replied.

After a moment's pause she continued, "Buffy, do you trust me?"

"With everything," Buffy moved back to the bath standing just behind her lover and began to softly massage Willow's shoulders.

"Ok, I've an idea, it's pretty radical, and it might not work, and Amana and Grael probably won't like it, and…"

"Chill girl. I trust you and love you; if you believe that you can do this and that it will help us I think you should do it," added Buffy as she tenderly caressed Willow's hair.

"Even if it might change you forever?"

"Even then," Replied the slayer, as she bent over and gently kissed the top of Willow's head.

"Then please do not be too surprised with what happens later," Willow replied with an impish smile crossing her face, "now scoot downstairs and get ready."

"Yes massa." $Love you.$

$I love you too, you remember everything else we discussed before about this?$

$Yes, don't worry, everything will be fine.$

Downstairs, waiting for the two principal participants, were the other five members of the group who would be taking part in the ritual.

"Evening Buffy," Aiofe called out, as she crossed over to kiss her, "where's Willow?"

"Witch girl will be down in a minute, she was just finishing up in the bath as I left." Buffy was wearing only her ritual robe as Willow had instructed. She was just a little cold and immediately went over to stand in front of the fireplace.

"I'm here," Willow said, as she joined the other, "how much time do we have?"

"About fifteen minutes," Amana replied, "I trust that Buffy told you that you will lead tonight?"

"Yes," Willow said, "and I think that I'm going to break with tradition in my working partner."

"How's that," Grael asked, wondering exactly what they were getting into.

"Well the way I was looking at it, I want to balance things as best I can," she replied as she motioned for everyone to join her in the centre of the tavern, "so the way I'm going to work it is as follows: I'm going to put you in the North Grael, with Amana balancing you in the South. With the importance of tonight's work, and that Buffy will be invoking the guardians of the East, I need to have Frankel in that quarter. Bridie, you will take up the West. Aiofe will join me in the centre. This way I think that I have the best balance of power, gender and experience."

She looked around at the others, and seeing no obvious signs of opposition continued, "Okay then, let's get to it. I trust that everything has been cleaned," seeing an answering nod from Amana, "right, I'll ask Frankel and you Bridie to see to the candles, while Amana and I take care of the runes."

"That leaves me to brief and ward the Summoner," commented Grael, "while Aiofe prepares Buffy. Good plan Willow."

Grael was seeing Willow coming into her own as the arch-mage, and that she was quickly learning to take command of situations, becoming the leader that they would need in the days to come. This was one of the reasons for the initiation tonight, and he was happy to see that he and Amana were correct in their assumptions and decisions.

They quickly got to work and within a few minutes had all taken up their appropriate places. Daithi and Buffy were outside of the circle, waiting for their part in the ritual. Willow and Aiofe were in the centre with the others at the quarters. Willow, looking to Amana for confirmation of the timing, began the ritual as the moon was reaching its zenith, starting with the preparatory breathing exercises and chants. After very little time she was able to sense that the six of them were ready to proceed. She and Aiofe then cast the circle and returned to centre to draw in the energy. The energy she collected was tremendous, far more than she had ever collected before, and she paused to think, "If this is what I'm collecting from a half-circle what would the energy from a full or double circle be like?"

Willow grounded herself, and cast the sphere that would protect them and the mundane world from potential harm due to the magic they were about to perform. As she was casting the sphere, she was able to actually see the manifestation of her abilities when a blue-tinged transparent dome appeared over them. Willow began to pour the collected power into the sphere, and as she did so, the dome started to become opaque.

"This is new," she commented aloud, "I've never seen the shield become actually visible before."

"It's new to us too," Amana said, with the awe in her voice very evident, "I've never even heard of it happening."

Willow then took up Grael's sword, which she had borrowed for the ritual, and began the process of invoking the guardians.

Starting in the East she raised the sword and called out for the Guardian of the East to attend her in her work, "Guardian of the Air, I beseech you to come near and watch over our work tonight. You are the strength that is subtle, the giver of life sustaining air; you are the one without whom we would perish. You who are the herald of autumn, in whom we trust the bounty of the Earth."

Willow used the sword to etch in the air the symbol for the Guardian, as she did so a pale yellow flame briefly followed the tip of the sword and for a moment the symbol hung in the air, visible to all.

She then moved to the South and called for that Guardian to attend to her with, "Guardian of the Fire, I beseech you to come near and watch over our work tonight. You are the strength that burns the giver of life sustaining heat; you are the one without whom we would perish. You who are the herald of summer, in whom we trust the growth of the Earth." As before, when Willow traced the symbol in the air a pale red flame followed the tip of the sword and briefly hung in the air before her.

As she approached the West she felt just a little bit apprehensive, very unusual things were happening in this ritual, and she was not at all certain of where it might all lead. However, she knew that she would have to finish what she had started and so called to the Guardian of the West with, "Guardian of the Water, I beseech you to come near and watch over our work tonight. You are the strength that is fluid, the giver of life sustaining water; you are the one without whom we would perish. You who are the herald of spring, in whom we trust the rebirth of the Earth." A blue flame hung in the air as Willow traced the symbol.

Finally Willow travelled to the North to call out the last Guardian with, "Guardian of the Earth, I beseech you to come near and watch over our work tonight. You are the strength that is solid, the giver of life sustaining reserves; you are the one without whom we would perish. You who are the herald of winter, in whom we trust the renewal of the Earth." With this final invocation a green symbol was traced in the air.

Willow returned to the centre of the circle and prepared to ask the summoned Guardians to bring forth their power for the work she was going to do. She had given this some thought, and had decided to initiate Buffy as more than a priestess; she was going to attempt to bind Buffy's magic with her fighting abilities. She was going to initiate her as a warrior-mage; her earlier conversation with Buffy had given her the confidence she needed and she now knew that even though it was a difficult procedure, she instinctively knew she would be able to complete. She had not discussed this with Amana or Grael, since she figured that they would be against it, and since she was not feeling all that charitable to them just now, decided they would learn when she started the ritual. The important thing was that she had discussed it with Buffy, albeit a bit cryptically, and had received her blessing to continue.

She gathered in the power and called out to the Guardians, "Guardians, I beseech you to lend me your strength as we work together to initiate this supplicant into the mysteries of the great work. May you help us to bring to her the knowledge and understanding she will need in order to complete her responsibilities here. For she is to be that which is whispered, that which is feared by all enemies and that which is the curse of demon kind everywhere. She is to be the demon-bane, the slayer, the warrior-mage."

Both Amana and Grael were startled by the invocation, and by the events that had happened so far in the ritual. They knew the power that Willow had, and had been prepared for an intense ceremony. However, the visible manifestation of the shield, and the visible symbols of the Guardians were beyond their expectations. They were surprised by Willow's decision to initiate Buffy as a warrior-mage, a near mythical figure in their histories, but, unlike what Willow had been thinking, were not against the idea and were willing to wait a little longer before asking any questions.

As Willow finished her invocation four pillars of light appeared outside of the circle; in the North a pillar of green appeared, in the East a translucent yellow one. To the South, a pulsating crimson pillar, and in the West a shimmering blue pillar joined the others.

At this point all of the participants in the circle paused, and Amana decided that waiting for answers was no longer an option asking, "Willow, what is going on here?"

"I don't know," the equally confused arch-mage replied, "has this ever happened before?"

Not in recent history," replied Frankel, "only in our legends has this ever happened before."

"Oh," Willow replied softly, "well, I've started and I guess we had better finish. Is Daithi ready with Buffy?"

"Yes he is," replied Grael, "I hope you have no other surprises for us tonight dear. I mean seeing an actual manifestation of the Guardians is surprising enough."

"I'm not planning any, and to be truthful, I am as surprised as everyone else."

Willow began to centre herself again, in order to focus her mind on the task ahead. When she felt ready to continue she took Aiofe by the hand, went over to the Northeast edge of the circle, and called out, "Summoner, is the initiate ready?"

Buffy and Daithi had been standing quietly by the fireplace meditating in preparation for their parts in the ritual. Daithi had watched with surprise the visible demonstrations of the power being raised, and wondered briefly if all of this was a good idea. The disruptions being made in the magical universe was certain to be a flag to any demons in the area that something was going on. He tightened his grip on his sword, and kept a closer eye on the windows and doors to the tavern. He also hoped that his guardsmen were also alert and keeping an eye on things outside.

Buffy had been quietly watching the proceedings, thinking about the upcoming ritual and trying to remember all that would be required of her. She and Willow had had several discussions both here and in Sunnydale about the initiation. But at no time had Willow mentioned anything about visible domes or pillars of light. She wasn't worried as she had complete faith and trust in her lover and in her abilities. Still when the call came to the Summoner she felt her heart race, just a little bit.

"Yes," he replied as he first blindfolded her, and then bound her hands in front of her; he then grasped her by the arm and brought her before the circle.

Willow cut a gate in the circle saying, "then bring her forward and allow her to enter our sacred circle." As she did so, blue flame chased up the edge of the sword and remained visible in the air, outlining a door in the shield.

Daithi pushed Buffy forward so that she was standing on the edge of the circle, when Willow suddenly raised her sword and placed the point of it at Buffy's heart.

"Better for you to fall upon my sword now if you come here with anything but love in your heart. Do you come in peace and love?"

"I do," replied the slayer.

"Then enter of your own free will, for once upon this path you may not return. Summoner, remain behind to protect us and guard this gate in the sacred circle."

Willow stood aside to allow Buffy to enter into the circle, and as she did so Daithi turned so that his back was to the circle so that he was blocking the gate with his body.

Willow now prepared to administer the blessings and the oaths, while she did so the other members of the group silently meditated and prayed for their new sister on the path. Willow cut off Buffy's ritual robe and led her to the centre of the circle. She then knelt down in front of her while Aiofe took up her place behind Buffy with the sword resting on Buffy's shoulder, the edge pressed hard against her neck.

Willow kissed Buffy's feet and said, "Blessed be, these feet, for they will walk the path of the Goddess. Do you willingly take up this path?"

"I do," replied Buffy.

Willow then kissed Buffy's knees saying, "Blessed be, these knees, for they will bend in supplication to the Goddess. Do you willingly take up this path?"

"I do."

Kissing Buffy's stomach, just at the navel, she said, "Blessed be, this womb, for it will bring forth life as the Goddess wills. Do you willingly take up this path?"

"I do."

Willow stood up and kissed the hollow above Buffy's breasts saying, "Blessed be, this heart, for it will beat in service to the Goddess. Do you willingly take up this path?"

"I do."

Willow removed Buffy's blindfold, and kissed her between the eyes saying, "Blessed be, these eyes, for they will see in the light of the Goddess. Do you willingly take up this path?"

"I do."

Finally, Willow kissed Buffy on the forehead saying, "Blessed be, this mind, for it will seek knowledge in the name of the Goddess. Do you willingly take up this path?"

Buffy replied for a seventh time, "I do."

"Then know this," continued Willow, "you have sworn seven times that you will willingly taking up this path. If you fail to do as you have sworn, you will be cursed for all time, and you will never know the joy of re-birth or the never-ending love of the Goddess. I ask you one last time, do you willingly take up this path?"

"I do."

Willow went over to the altar and returned with her ritual knife, she stood in front of Buffy and as she cut the rope that bound her hands said, "You have accepted to act and work with the Goddess always first in your mind. I therefore release you from your bounds and welcome you into our fellowship."

While she was saying this, Aiofe went over and re-sealed the circle, after inviting Daithi into it. After they had re-joined the others Willow said to everyone, "Blessed be, I ask you all to now welcome our sister on the path, show her that her love is returned and shared by all."

Everyone else now took the opportunity to come up to Buffy, each congratulating her and giving her a hug and a kiss. When they had all finished, they returned to their places as Willow began the next part of the initiation ritual.

"Initiate, you who are called Elizabeth, are you ready to proceed into the mysteries of our path?"

"I am."

"Then," she said handing Buffy a new robe, "re-clothe yourself and prepare to take your vow."

Buffy dressed in her new plain white robe and wrapped the silk cord once around her body.

Turning to the East, she then said her vows, "Blessed be, Guardian of the Air, hear my vow, and grant my request. I swear that I will always follow the path, use my gifts for the good of humanity and never bow to the temptations of evil. You are the source of my power; you are the giver of life sustaining air. Grant me the wisdom to use my skills wisely. Grant me the understanding to find my way on the path. Grant me the strength to fight the enemies of humanity."

As Buffy finished her vow, the column of yellow light that was standing in the East solidified and created an extension that reached out from it, going through the shield, to touch Buffy on the head. Buffy would have collapsed to the floor if it hadn't been for Willow and Aiofe reaching out to support her. As they held her up, everyone noticed that Buffy's hair had turned white where the Guardian had touched it.

"You ok," Willow asked her lover softly.

"Yeah," Buffy replied shaking her head gently, as if to clear out the cobwebs, "that was... intense."

"Are you able to continue," Her soul-mate asked, "we can take a break if you need it."

"No, its ok. Let's go on."

"All right then, on to the home stretch." Returning to the altar, she sat down on the floor, indicating to Aiofe and Buffy that they should sit on either side of her. The others gathered in front of the altar and sat down waiting expectantly, since none of them had ever been involved in the initiation of a warrior-mage.

Willow paused for a moment to collect her thoughts then began her discourse with "Blessed be."

"Blessed be," replied the others.

"We are gathered in this place and time as participants in the making of a warrior-mage, this is a difficult and perhaps dangerous undertaking. We must ask the Guardians to bind Buffy's power to her slaying abilities, and to give her the knowledge and strength to use them. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes Willow," asked Grael, "why didn't you talk about this before?"

"Good question Grael," Willow replied, "primarily because I didn't really think about it till tonight, and second, I wasn't certain if I would be leading tonight, nor what your response would be."

"We would have given it some thought," answered Amana, "but we would have agreed. In fact, we would have suggested it ourselves, if we had thought about it."

"Alright, I apologize for not telling you sooner," Willow said to the group, beginning to realize, just a little bit, that with true leadership comes responsibilities; one of those responsibilities is to keep your followers informed about your decisions and about your plans. "I am a bit worried about what has been happening tonight," she continued, "but let's hope that everything turns out ok.

"Now," she continued, "we come to the next part of the ritual, we are going to start by having Buffy lie before the altar, on an East-West axis. Then we will perform a binding ritual with the sword. Grael, I'm going to ask you to sacrifice your sword, ok?"

"Fine with me, what is going to happen to it?"

"If everything works, it will essentially become part of Buffy's essence."

"What," asked a surprised slayer.

"It's just that you will be able to draw on its strength and by extension the strength of the Guardians when you face the demon hordes."

"Ok, then," Buffy replied, "just as long as I don't become some sort of 'bionic slayer'."

"No," Willow replied, "we had enough of that with Ted."

"Ted," Amana wordlessly asked Grael, who replied with a shake of his head and a hunching of his shoulders.

"Now, Buffy, lie on the floor," Willow asked softly, "everyone else back to your places."

Once everyone was ready Willow took the sword and set it on top of Buffy with the pommel resting between her breasts and the blade pointing towards her sex.

$This going to take long love, this floor is COLD!$

$No sweetie, about ten minutes, if everything goes ok.$

Willow centred herself, and the circle, and once again drew up power from the others. When she felt ready she began the spell that would give to Buffy the powers of a warrior mage.

"Mighty Goddess in your role as the warrior maiden," Willow began, "I ask you and your Guardians to grant me my petition. It is only due to our great need that we seek to have this initiate transformed into the role of a warrior mage," as Willow began her spell the four pillars of light flared, then solidified, "give to her the ability to combine her great strengths and abilities to be a force for good, and to aid our civilization in its struggles against the demons who plague us." Willow turned to Buffy and began the litany:

"Initiate, do you promise to always use your strength in the service of the Goddess and her Guardians?"

"I do."

"Do you promise to uphold the rights of all against tyranny and oppression?"

"I do."

"Do you promise to think only of others, and not yourself when exercising your powers?"

"I do."

"Do you promise to do all that you can to eradicate the enemies of humanity?"

"I do."

As Willow was reciting the litany the Guardians began pulsating, and it appeared that the elements themselves were rising up against the inn. The occupants of the circle could feel the wind shake the building, the rain pounding against the windows, the earth tremble and the fireplaces flared up with the flames dancing to music only they could hear.

"Do you promise to only tell the truth," Willow pressed on, trying to ignore what was happening outside of the circle, "when asked about the Goddess and her servants?"

"I do."

"Do you promise to teach others on their journey on the path, if you are called to do so?"

"I do."

Just as Buffy finished speaking the wind which had been rattling the shutters over the windows forced open the windows and swirled into the tavern, causing the four pillars of light to flare up in response. The wind forced its way into the circle and under Buffy. Suddenly Buffy was levitated into the air and crucified in mid-air, ten feet above the heads of the others, on an invisible cross. Somehow, the sword stayed where Willow had placed it, it appeared as if it was welded to Buffy's body.

Everyone stood speechless at this latest spectacle, Willow, very worried now, sent a tentative, $you ok Buff?$

$Fine, I should be terrified, but somehow I feel nothing but peace.$

$How are you being supported?$

$Let me tell you witch-girl, if you don't know, why do you think I would?$

$Wishful thinking I guess,$ looking over at Grael, she asked, "you have any ideas?"

"None," he replied a little fear creeping into his voice; "this is beginning to scare me though."

"Me to," Willow agreed, "I guess we have no choice but to finish."

Suddenly everyone felt an invisible presence with them in the circle; they instinctively genuflected and bowed their heads.

Willow said tentatively, "Goddess, you grace us with your presence, how may we serve?"

The presence replied mentally to all in the circle except Buffy, $YOU SEEK TO MAKE A WARRIOR SERVANT FOR ME FROM THIS INITIATE?$

"We do," replied Willow.

$I SEE THAT YOUR NEED IS GREAT. I AM HONOURED BY YOUR THOUGHTS AND I ACCEPT YOUR GIFT.$

Buffy suddenly felt an overpowering presence in her mind and body. She knew that she should be terrified, but was overcome with a blissful peace. Suddenly the presence started to ask questions.

$Initiate, you seek to serve me?$

$I do,$ Buffy replied, realising that this was the ultimate test, that there was no way to be untruthful, for the Goddess was reading every nuance in her body and her voice.

$Do you seek to strike fear in my enemies, the enemies of humankind?$

$I do.$

$Do you seek to be my avatar and serve as my strong arm in the realm of man?$

$I do.$

$Then know that you are my servant and avatar. That you will be so marked and that my servants will aid you should you require their skills.$

Everyone in the circle was then addressed, $THIS IS MY AVATAR, SHE WILL BE MY AID TO YOU IN YOUR TIME OF NEED. SHE MAY BE HARMED, FOR THAT IS THE FATE OF HUMANKIND, BUT SHE WILL HAVE THE ASSISTANCE OF MY GUARDIANS. I SO MARK HER, SO THAT ALL MAY KNOW HER AS MY FAITHFUL SERVANT.$

There was an intense flash of light surrounding Buffy, which was so painful that everyone had to avert their eyes. Buffy felt a searing pain where the sword had been resting on her body, when the pain ended, she could see that her robe was burned away, and that the sword was gone. On her chest and stomach there was a burn in the shape of the sword, and she heard in her mind, $Child, the burn will heal, but you will carry my mark forever. When you have a great need, call forth and my sword will be your tool.$

Buffy had been gently lowered to the floor as the Goddess had been speaking. When her feet touched the floor, she collapsed.

The Goddess then addressed Willow directly, $I GO NOW, MY CHILD. WHEN YOUR NEED IS GREAT, I WILL RETURN, YOUR PATH WILL BE DIFFICULT BUT YOU HAVE ALREADY COLLECTED OTHERS WHO WILL BIND WITH YOU FOR ALL TIME.$

As suddenly as it had appeared, the presence was gone from the circle. The elements, which had been howling outside of the inn, subsided and the four pillars of light standing outside of the circle, disappeared.

"Dramatic," commented Willow.

"See to Buffy," Amana said, "Frankel and I will collapse the circle, and banish the shield."

Willow went over to where Buffy was laying on the floor. She could see that her lover was shivering, and called out, "blankets, something. I need to get her warm, she is freezing."

Amana and Frankel had by then collapsed the circle and had banished the shield, so Aiofe ran to the fireplace and grabbed a couple of the house blankets that were kept there for cold guests. She quickly returned to Willow and helped her to wrap them around Buffy, Willow was a little frantic and called to her soul-mate, $Buffy are you ok?$

$Cold, so cold.$

$We'll have you warm soon love,$ Willow said, the relief evident in her mind.

"Let's get her seated by the fire, and some hot cider into her," she said aloud as she bent down and picked Buffy up in her arms.

"I can walk," Buffy whispered, "after all I'm a big girl now."

"You're my big girl," Willow replied as she carried Buffy over to the fireplace and deposited her gently into an overstuffed armchair, "and I want to take care of you."

"Yes love," Buffy answered, as she accepted a mug of hot cider from Bridie.

Everyone drew up chairs around the fire, and began to discuss the extraordinary events that they had witnessed. Daithi stayed for only a short while, excusing himself to go check on the other guardsmen. Within twenty minutes the others all headed upstairs, it was very late and they had a hard day's travel ahead of them in the morning.

-----------------------------------------------

Later that night, four young women were asleep in bed. Spooned together they slept dreamlessly; they were far too exhausted to dream. As dawn began to creep over the horizon, one of the women stirred and carefully detached herself from the others. Buffy went into the bathroom, and striped off her robe to take a look at herself in the mirror. Since the evening before she had changed, spectacularly. She started her examination at the top; the most striking change there was the three-inch stripe of snow-white hair that started at the roots where her hair parted.

However, overall the most dramatic difference was the red brand on her body, in the shape of a sword. The vivid burn from the night before was gone and in its place, the mark had changed its appearance, it now had the appearance of a tattoo. Other changes were subtler; she had always been in excellent physical shape, now she looked like an Amazon. Her muscles were superbly developed, they were not grotesque, but perfectly in proportion to her body, they were also well defined, almost sculpted. She heard the soft rustle of someone getting out of bed and softly walking across the floor to the bathroom.

She thought to herself, "my hearing has also improved; I wonder what else has changed?"

$Looking really buff, Buff.$

$Morning love, who are you and what have you done with my sleepyhead Willow?$

$Missed you,$ she said as she came up behind Buffy and firmly hugged her.

$What exactly happened last night?$

$We had a visitor, a very important visitor.$

$I guessed that, but why?$

$That I don't know love, and I have found it unwise to ask; join me in the bath?$

$You never have to ask me that.$

Willow proceeded to run a bath for the two of them. The tub wasn't as large as the one back at the castle, so there was no room for extended play. They had to settle for quick snatch and grabs, and extended back washings. As they were finishing up rinsing each other's hair, Aiofe and Bridie joined them in the bathroom.

"Morning loves," Aiofe called out as she went over to the sink to wash, "how are we all doing?"

"Fine," replied Willow, "you two cool with what happened last night?"

"It was weird," replied Bridie joining her lover at the sink, "having your Goddess appear in the circle with you, "but I'm ok with it, in fact honoured."

Aiofe and Bridie finished up washing and turned to leave.

"We will head downstairs and get things ready for the trip," Bridie said as they finished dressing in their armour.

"Daithi said last night that he was hoping to head out about two hours after dawn," added Aiofe, "that's in about thirty minutes."

$No time for jollies this morning, I guess,$ commented Willow as she was drying off.

$Not in the conventional sense anyway,$ agreed Buffy, $but I do have an idea, if you are willing.$

$I'm always willing to try something new, with you,$ Willow replied excitedly, $what do we do?$

"Lie down on the bed," Buffy said, "and close your eyes.

"Now, what," Willow asked, as she did as Buffy asked.

$Now you let me concentrate for a second,$ she said, as she joined Willow on the bed.

Buffy expanded her awareness, and looked with her second eyes for the now permanent link between her and Willow. She perceived it as a thick twisting rope of energy, which bound each of their essences together. Buffy was going to try to do consciously what she had experienced before as a product of her healing Willow. She was going to let Willow feel what she felt, see what she saw and know what she knew. Buffy had experienced Willow's emotional depth already when she had healed her, and wanted Willow to know the depth of love that she felt for her. Buffy looked deep into the link, and then translated into it. She followed along until she reached Willow's conscious mind, she then altered her own personal shields and mental barriers and invited Willow in, to see everything and anything she wished.

Tentatively at first, and then with greater confidence Willow explored. She looked into Buffy's oldest memories, the emotions when she became the slayer, the pain when her first watcher died, the love she felt for Angel, the pain when he reverted, the sorrow when she killed him, knowing that he had regained his soul. Then Willow went deeper, she looked for and found the emotions and memories that Buffy had for her. She saw herself, mirrored in Buffy's mind when Buffy first met her in High School. She saw herself, when she found out that Buffy was the slayer, and the fear and disapproval. She saw the love that grew from their friendship, and the trust that had been built between the two. She felt the confusion when Buffy realised that she loved her more than a friend, she experienced the feelings and memories of Buffy's rejection of her true feelings, and the attempt to bury them with Parker and Riley. She experienced when Buffy tentatively approached her at Christmas and expressed her love, as more than a friend. She remembered the struggle that the admission had cost Buffy, and the fear that she would be rejected. She remembered, from Buffy's point of view, the first time that they had made love, the explorations, and the tentative caresses that increased in tempo until they had both exploded in mutual pleasure. The soft caressing that they did after they had reached their plateaus, the sweet nothings that they had whispered to each other.

She remembered the conversations that they had, the knowledge they shared, that when they fell asleep they were in the arms of the one person who meant more to each other than anyone else in the world, or worlds. Finally she saw the traitorous attack on Buffy from Buffy's eyes; she knew the anguish that had gripped her. The realization that the woman she loved was about to die and that nobody was able to help, the desperation that drove her to attempt what had never been done before, the pain that Willow had felt, mirrored, by Buffy's desperate link. She felt the panic that was driven by love, which gave Buffy the idea to try the impossible. She saw the complete trust that Buffy had in her, evident in the faith that she had exhibited in the initiation.

Willow slowly regained her own senses, the phenomenon of experiencing everything that her true love felt was breathtaking. She knew now, for certain, that she would never be alone, that someone who had shared everything with her, and in whom she could trust with her soul, would share her journey through life.

Deep within this realization was an understanding that others may help, love, and be loved by them but in the end their souls were forever entwined.

$Thank-you,$ Willow said to her soul. It was only two words but they conveyed everything; her love, her dreams, and her desires to Buffy.

$You're welcome.$

"Come on love," Buffy said as she gently kissed Willow, "we have to get going."

"I know," Willow replied as she carefully got out of bed, using Buffy for support, "what ever gave you that idea?"

"I've been thinking for a while about it," the slayer replied, "and I finally figured out a way to let you know how I truly felt about you, since I already knew how you felt about me, from when I healed you."

The two women quickly left their room, after checking to make sure that they had left nothing behind, and descended to the common room where the others were waiting. They had a very quick breakfast and then headed to the stables, where the guardsmen had already arranged to have their horses saddled. Within minutes the eleven of them were heading north out of town. Their initial progress was slow, since they were still dodging fleeing refugees, but by mid-morning they had reached open road and were making good time to their destination, the town of Peters Forge, where the first of the hell-mouths was located. As they approached a small hill, they could see and smell smoke from over the rise. Turning to two of the guardsman Daithi ordered them to scout ahead and investigate.

Dismounting he suggested, "We might as well dismount for a while. Its nearly noon, and we should eat and water the horses while we wait for Padrick and Seamus to get back with their report."

Everyone did as he suggested, the remaining guardsman leading the horses to a nearby stream. No one was very hungry, but they all walked around and stretched their muscles while eating at least some bread and cheese, since they had no real idea of when they would be stopping again.

Suddenly they saw the two guardsmen riding hard back down the road towards them. When they were within shouting distance they could hear them yelling, "Demons, demons are burning the farms!"

They reached the party and quickly dismounted, their horses breathing hard and lathered with sweat. Just as they started to give their report Aiofe looked up the road and shouted, "we have company," as a band of twenty or so demons poured over the hill in pursuit of the two guardsmen.

Everyone quickly grabbed their weapons and Daithi quickly formed a defensive perimeter, with himself and the other guardsmen in front of the others and behind some fallen trees.

Just as the first group of demons came into bow range, Bridie noticed that an even greater group, at least one hundred, had followed them down the hill.

"Oh, oh," she said," it looks like we now have real trouble."

It appeared that they had found one of the main forces of demons, which had been heading to the Capital.

"Do we run, fight or wait for the cavalry," Willow asked thinking that their trip might have become suddenly shorter.

"I hate to tell you this lover," Replied Buffy, "but we are the cavalry."


	7. Vivamus, Mea Lesbia, Atque Amemus

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ivy, Sam and Bill for their input and suggestions into this while it was still a work in progress; you helped me out of several plot jams. Thanks to my significant other for all of her patience and perseverance. Thanks to my family for putting up with my not being around for great lengths of time. And finally to everyone who read and commented on the draft of this work, their input was more than valuable, it kept me writing.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter VII - Vivamus, Mea Lesbia, Atque Amemus

(Let us Live, my Lesbia, and Let us Love)

"Ok folks," yelled the arch-mage, "this is how we are going to handle this."

Everyone paused in their preparations for battle in order to understand clearly what Willow had to say.

"Daithi," she continued, "I want you and the other guardsmen to keep this first group as busy as you can with missile fire. Buff, I want to keep you back in reserve till that second group gets closer. Grael, Frankel, Amana can you three keep any of those demons in the first group from breaking off and circling behind us?"

"We will do our best," replied Amana, "but we will need help once that second group gets here."

"That's where Buffy and I get into it," Willow replied, "I hope. Aiofe, Bridie, what can you do to help, we haven't had any time to really talk about your magical abilities."

"We will stay out of the way," Aiofe replied, "and keep the horses from panicking."

"If worse comes to worse," added Bridie, "we'll fight. After all, we were guardsmen at one time."

"Ok then," Willow shouted, "let's kick some demon ass."

Everyone burst into action. Daithi and the guardsmen immediately began to lay down withering fire with their bows, assisted by Buffy and her crossbow. Grael spotted a yellow-skinned demon breaking for the trees and yelled out, "bassoil ùir!" With that spell, the demon was suddenly enveloped in the earth as the ground rose up and smothered it. "One down," he muttered as he kept a sharp lookout for any others.

Willow meanwhile began thinking about options on how to handle the second group of demons. She knew that they would have very little time after dispatching the first group before the larger group would be upon them. The only solution she could think of quickly was to devise a method of channelling the enemy so that only a small group would be able to attack them at any one time, therefore giving them a chance against the demon's greater numbers. Looking at the terrain in front of them she noted that they were in a small valley with a river to their left and the road that they had been travelling on going down the centre, parallel to the river, then disappearing over the hill ahead of them. They were in a copse of woods that followed the river; open fields were on the other side of the road. She saw that if she were able to block the demons from coming over the fields on the right side of them, the river would block them from the left, leaving only the ten meters directly in front that they would have to defend. She decided to try to use a variation of the shield that Amana had taught Buffy, except this shield would be much larger.

Drawing upon as much energy from the surrounding area as she dared she grounded herself, focused, then cried out, "Bree fuar bhalla!" A translucent blue wall sprung up angling out from where Willow was standing, crossing over the road and the fields in front of her and disappearing over the hill. Creating an effective barrier to the demons, she hoped.

"That should keep them from getting behind us," Willow commented, "now we'll only have to deal with a small group at a time."

"Yeah," commented Buffy as she took careful aim and fired at another demon, driving a quarrel through its eye, "ten to one odds, we can certainly deal with that."

"Sarcasm is unbecoming in a pregnant woman," Aiofe quipped as she was trying to keep five horses under control. They had taken one look at the approaching demon hoards and had decided bolting was far better than staying.

"I mean it," the slayer responded, "this is going to be fun." Bridie and Aiofe looked at Buffy as if she was possessed, thinking that their new lover was just a few apples short of a bushel.

They had more than Buffy's sanity to worry about; the horses were becoming a real handful. They smelled the unfamiliar scents of the demons, the blood being spilt and the general commotion in the small camp. They had almost gotten away from the two young women several times. Frankel noticed the problems that they were having and came over to the horses. Laying his hands on each of the horse's heads in turn he whispered into its ear. The results were immediate and dramatic; the horses immediately calmed down and stood placidly while Aiofe and Bridie tied them to some nearby trees.

"That should keep them quiet," commented the sage.

"Thanks," replied Aiofe, "I thought that we were going to lose them."

"Let's get our armour on," added Bridie, "we can do more good helping the guardsmen by using our shields to protect them from the demon's missile fire."

Just then, Amana spotted a demon breaking for the river, with a shouted, "Tendreil orraghey," a bolt of lightning sprang from her palm and hit the demon just as it entered the water. The results were impressive, electrocuted smoked demon.

"That's a delicacy I'll avoid," commented Buffy as she continued her banter, "I mean desiccated demon is not on my list of edibles for expectant mothers."

"Come-on Buff," Willow pleaded, "get serious for a second will you?"

By then the entire first group of twenty demons had been dispatched. Everyone took the opportunity to catch their breath and re-arm for the upcoming major battle.

"I'm nearly out of arrows," commented Padrick, "only eight left."

The other guardsmen were in a similar situation. Looking around Daithi commented, "Ok then, all of the arrows to Padrick and David, everyone else uses their shield to protect them and rest up for when we run out of arrows and that second group of demons reach the barrier."

The larger group of demons were now in bow range. Padrick and David immediately began to rapid fire their remaining arrows, selecting arms and legs as targets wherever possible in order to disable as many of the enemy as possible. They were not able to stop the tide of demons, only slow it for a short while, then they were out of arrows and the first of the demons were directly in front, at the barrier, and snarling for blood. It was then down to hand to claw fighting. Willow kept Buffy back from the conflict, wanting to use her as a strategic reserve, and to protect the mages from interference. Some of the demons tried to go through Willow's barrier, and received nasty shocks and burns for their troubles. In addition, since the barrier was keyed to Willow, she was able to target those who tried to go through it for direct spell action. They were holding their own, however, there were a great number of foes, and they didn't seem to be slowing down.

One by one the guardsmen had to retreat out of the battle due to minor wounds and exhaustion until there was only Aiofe, Bridie and Daithi left on the line. At this point Buffy felt an intense burning sensation on her chest. When she looked down, she saw that the tattoo of the sword was pulsating. She reached down and when she touched the tattoo, it turned into the sword, and separated from her body.

$Willow, do you see this?$

$Yes, but I don't believe it,$ the arch-mage replied, $but, she did say help would be yours when you needed it.$

$We will have to talk about this,$ Buffy commented as she raised the sword overhead.

As soon as she lifted the sword overhead it bust into flame and she was consumed by an overpowering and out of control rage. Buffy leapt over the improvised barrier of logs that they had been using, directly into the midst of the demons. Demon ichor and gore flew everywhere as she cut a swath through the middle of the enemy ranks. The demons were bewildered and confused, no attacks seemed to touch or affect this berserk woman in their lines. Buffy was seemingly able to anticipate every blow against her and turn it aside with her sword. Where her sword struck demon flesh, it burned as if the sun had touched it. Her arm was tireless as she thrust, slashed and parried ceaselessly. The sword was feather light in her hands, almost as if it was weightless.

The mages took advantage of the disruption Buffy was making to let fly with various bolts of energy, flame and lightning, to further decimate the enemy ranks. Within minutes, the moral of the attacking demons had broken and they began to break ranks, the remaining two dozen or so, mostly wounded, fleeing back up the hill. Buffy, still in her berserker rage, started after them when suddenly the sword disappeared. Buffy collapsed; exhausted from the psychic and physical effort she had been under.

Willow, seeing her soul-mate's collapse, immediately ran to her yelling, "Amana, Grael, keep harassing them while Frankel and I collect Buffy."

The two of them quickly reached Buffy's side, and Willow sent a brief $Buff, what happened, you ok?$

$Where am I, and did anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?$ Buffy replied as she slowly stood up. "What happened?"

"You went berserk," commented Willow, stating the obvious, as she and Frankel helped to support either side of Buffy. Once she was upright and mobile the three of them started to walk back to their improvised campsite.

Buffy was a mess. Her hair and armour were matted with demon blood and gore. She was also a mass of bruises, which even as they walked back to the camp were in the process of healing.

"Ugh," Willow commented, "you stink of blood and goo. We will have to get you cleaned up before we move on."

Buffy sniffed herself and said, "no kidding witch-girl, I am rank. What was I doing?"

"Butchering demons," replied Aiofe, "come on, let's get you into the river and get that junk off of you."

Buffy took a look around the battlefield. There were bits and pieces of demons everywhere, in addition to the demons that had been dispatched by various spells. Those that had been killed by the mages had been burnt, strangled, webbed and electrocuted.

"My Goddess," exclaimed the slayer, "we certainly did a number on them, didn't we?"

"That we, or rather you, did," replied Bridie as she was getting various items out of the travel bags, "lets bathe and get some food into you."

Shortly the four women were in the river, three of them trying to get Buffy clean.

"This water is cold," complained Buffy as she was doused with another bucket of water, "hurry up, I'm beginning to freeze."

"We'll get you warm again," commented Willow, "don't worry about that, besides, none of us got covered in demon goo, did we?"

"None of you have a Goddess who decides to drive you berserk either," retorted Buffy.

"That's true," replied Willow contritely, $forgive me?$

$Always, now get me out of here before I turn blue.$

$A blue Buff, now that would be a sight.$

$WILLOW!$

"Ok, ok," Willow said as she finished rinsing off Buffy's hair, "let's get her out of here."

The four women left the river and quickly grabbed towels and quickly began to dry off. Willow finished and turned to Buffy and asked, "Need any help love?"

"That would be nice."

Willow began to vigorously rub Buffy's hair, trying to get all of the water out of it. She also began to caress her shoulders and neck.

$Mmm,$ commented Buffy, $that's nice.$

$I promise a good backrub tonight love,$ returned Willow.

$I'm going to hold you to that.$

Within minutes all four women were redressed and the entire group remounted, Buffy taking the opportunity to bolt down some food while sitting in the saddle.

Willow turned to Daithi and asked, "How are you and your guardsmen doing?"

"Just some minor scrapes and bruises," he replied, "nothing a good night's sleep wouldn't cure."

"I'm open to suggestions on how we proceed," Willow continued, "I don't think that we drove them off all that far, not that we left all that many to drive off."

"I agree," the guard captain commented with a slightly pensive look in his face, "we, or rather Buffy, did kill over three-quarters of them. That alone will probably keep them demoralized enough to allow us to continue relatively unmolested."

"But," asked Willow.

"But, I'll send two of the guardsmen to the flanks as sweepers," he added, "and Padrick and I will ride slightly ahead of the rest of you. With luck we will not see anything, but the four of us will give the rest of you enough warning to set up a defence if we do."

"Sounds good," Willow said, "alright everyone let's ride. We have three hours to sunset and that's just enough time to make it to our destination if we don't have any more distractions."

"Before we head out," said Frankel, "we should do something about the bodies."

"You're right," Willow commented, "let me." Willow once again reached deep into the surrounding energy and used a variation of her fireball spell to return the demon corpses to their component elements.

"There, that should do it," she commented as the last of the corpses turned to dust, and was scattered by the winds.

"Remind me to never, ever, get you mad at me;" said Buffy with a stunned look on her face, "you just vaporized them!"

"I think I can only do that with dead flesh," responded Willow. Turning to everyone she said, "that's it, lets get going before any more demons show up to ruin our day."

The four guardsmen immediately set out at the gallop to take up their positions ahead and on the flanks. The remaining members of the party broke out into a hard travel ride; alternating the pace of the horses from canter to walk to trot and then back to canter. It was a pace that the horses could maintain for an extended period of time without becoming overtly tired.

"My but is going to ache tonight," complained Willow, about an hour into their forced ride. Like Buffy, she was not yet that comfortable with riding, and she was beginning to feel aches and pains in muscles she didn't know she had.

"That's ok, sweetly," commented Buffy, "I'm sure that Aiofe and Bridie will be happy to massage our various aches later."

"You bet," commented Bridie.

"Looking forward to it," added Aiofe.

They were able to complete their day's travel without any further incidents. Daithi, just before they reached the town of Peters Forge, rode back to talk with Willow.

"We're being watched," he said as he drew near and fell in beside her. "I think that a small group of eight or so are keeping pace on our right flank, well out of range, but staying in contact."

"Meaning," asked the arch-mage.

"Meaning that they will definitely know where we are headed," he replied, "and maybe what you are trying to do. In addition, I'm certain that they have sent word back to their commanders about what happened."

"We are going to have to worry about that tomorrow," Willow said, "do you think they will try anything tonight?"

"Not in the town, I don't think," answered Daithi, "and if they were strong enough they would have hit us by now."

"This is how we'll do it then," said Willow, "pull in your outriders, and we will rest for ten minutes. Then we will ride hard, directly to the inn."

"Sounds good," commented Frankel, "when we've reached the inn, we can set up some wards and with luck get some sleep."

"Wards," asked Buffy.

"Shields," answered Aiofe, "similar to the ones that you do, which will warn of anything approaching the inn."

"Cool," commented the slayer, "I'm exhausted and could do with a good nights sleep."

"Is that all you could do with," asked Willow, an impish smile on her face.

$You know better than that.$

$Just checking.$

The party immediately began a hard gallop to the town, reaching it as expected just as dusk was falling. They rode up into the stable yard of a small two-story inn named the Boar's Feast and quickly dismounted, passing their horses over to the stable boys.

The inn was a hundred year old timber framed structure with a slate roof. It could accommodate twenty or so travellers and had facilities for their horses, equipment and other items.

Daithi and Frankel proceeded into the inn in order to arrange for their stay while the others gathered what baggage they would need for the night. The remaining items would be left in the stables, under the care of the stable master. Just as they were approaching the inn's door Daithi came out into the yard with a worried look on his face.

"Problems," asked Willow.

"They are full," he replied, "absolutely no room in the inn, so to speak."

"What are our options?"

"Well we have three choices," Daithi said ticking them off on his fingers, "first we can ride on and hope for another inn."

"That's out."

"Second, we can bed down in the stables."

"Benefits," asked the arch-mage.

"Easy to secure," he replied, "and easy to defend."

"Detriments?"

"No privacy."

"What's our third option?"

"Third, we can bunk down in the common room," replied Daithi, "it has the same privacy problem as the stables, it is as easy to secure, probably more comfortable, but."

"But?"

"But, we will be sharing with a number of other travellers."

$Buff, what do you think?$

$Stables, at least we will be with only our group.$

$Ok love, stables it is,$ "Ok Daithi, lets go with the stables. Will they at least feed us, and is there somewhere we can clean-up?"

"Basic country cooking," he replied, "but lots of it, they also have baths around the other side of the inn."

Willow turned to the others and said, "Ok folks, here's the deal. They have no room for us tonight, so we are going to takeover the stables. Grael, Amana, Bridie, get everything in one place and set wards so that only the eleven of us can pass. Then join the rest of us for dinner."

Within the quarter hour Willow's strike force were all sitting to dinner, discussing the day's events.

------------------------------------------

Deep within a darkened fortress, far from where Willow and her party were enjoying their dinner, a demon master sat in his operation centre reviewing the progress of his various demon offences. He was pleased with the progress of the last two days, and knew that within a day or so he would have the capital city of Maldorstat surrounded in siege. While few of his armies had met their objectives, most were at least progressing against the humans.

"Human scum," he thought to himself, "soon we will have all of you to heel. Then we can begin our true work here."

He paced about the room thinking about the operational plans that he had been given by his masters, and how to use his forces to accomplish those objectives. He hoped that they could subdue Maldorstat quickly; he had additional work for those troops.

He knew that he was out on a limb. He had accelerated his attack plans, well ahead of the general demon offensive, due to the information that he had received from his slaves in the human capital. It gave him complete surprise over the hated humans; however, it also left him short of reserves, since they would not be available through the transfer portals for two or more weeks. Every one of his troops was needed urgently, for several different objectives. "Oh well," he thought, "I'll just have to keep juggling the forces and hope that I don't lose too many of them."

His reverie was interrupted by the arrival of two of his slaves, one of them the quasi-human Hugh d'Torville and the other, one of his company commanders. He acknowledged their respectful bows with a nod of his massive head and granted them leave to speak, "yes, what is it you have to report?"

"Grave news dreaded master," began Hugh, "Junulak here, our Northern approaches commander has returned with information on those two strangers that the mages in Maldorstat were working with."

"Yes," replied the red-skinned demon master, "must I wait forever for the information?"

"No lord," replied Junulak. He was a two-meter high, blue-green skinned demon with yellow eyes, no hair and two spiral horns jutting out from his brow. "As you know, my company was advancing on Maldorstat from the North-East."

"Was?"

"Yes, my lord," replied the company commander, just beginning to sweat, "was. As we were moving through a small valley, burning out the farmsteads, I noticed two mounted humans ahead on the road. I ordered a platoon to give chase and then gathered up the rest of the company to follow."

"The point, get to the point," demanded the demon master said impatiently.

"When we caught up to the platoon, I noticed that they had been eliminated by a small band of humans, soldiers and mages. There were only ten or so of them, so given that I outnumbered them ten to one I attacked."

"AND?"

"And they had created a force shield of some type so that only ten or so of my troops could attack at once, and then, just as we were beginning to make headway and wear down their dammed soldiers, this woman went berserk and leaped into our ranks and began to attack us. Nothing we did could stop her. She, along with those cursed mages, killed or maimed over half my forces. Finally the troops could take no more, broke off the attack, and ran."

"Casualties," asked the demon master.

"Of my one hundred and fifty soldiers, one hundred and ten dead, thirty wounded and only ten functional."

"Good Gods of Chaos," said the demon master stunned, "one woman?"

"From Junulak's description," continued Hugh, "it was one of the strangers I reported earlier. As I said earlier," he continued, "these two are dangerous."

"That is why I accelerated the attack, and increased the attacking forces dedicated to the capital assault. It appears, however, that the reasons for that attack slipped out of the capital where they were relatively safe and are heading north into dangerous country, why?"

"My lord," said Junulak, "I left eight of my company to trail them. When I headed here to report to you the humans were heading towards this small village."

Junulak pointed out the town of Peters Forge on the situation map that dominated one wall of the room. "It is the only human habitat of any size within a day's travel of where we attacked them."

"What forces do we have in the area," asked the master demon as he studied the map carefully.

"None, now," replied Hugh.

"Pull back half of the troops dedicated to the siege of the castle and send them after those impertinent humans," the master demon ordered, staring at the situation map with intense concentration, and sudden realization of the danger he and his forces might be in.

"Master that is over five hundred troops; why so many for a mere ten humans?"

"Fools, do I have to spell out everything to you," he replied pointing at the map, "they are after the hell-mouth. They must know what we use them for, and they might also think that they can do something about it. When are we due to start transferring personnel through it?"

"Not till next week, lord," replied Junulak, stunned at the possibility that the inter-world transport network which they had used for millennia could be tampered with, "with the acceleration in our attack plans, none of the other battle groups were ready, nor were the reinforcements from home."

"Send messages to the other commanders and ask if they can speed up their plans," the demon lord answered, "in addition, I want to send a messenger back through our transfer portal, to inform the commanders back home. Third, Junulak, I want you to take personal charge of capturing and disposing of these pests. I do not have to tell you the price of failure. Now go make your plans, I expect you to be ready to leave in the next three days and I will want to review them before you leave."

Hugh d'Torville and the demon Junulak immediately left their master's presence to carry out his orders. Meanwhile their master returned to his contemplations. He now had a significant unforeseen problem to deal with, and reduced resources to use against it.

------------------------------------------

On a pile of hay, which had been covered with several blankets and comforters, lay four young women and a cat, knotted together in a tangled pile. After eating their dinner Willow, Buffy, Aiofe and Bridie had bathed and retired for the evening. They had made brief, but passionate, love - more out of need than true desire, and afterwards Aiofe and Bridie had immediately drifted off to sleep. Willow was not even close to being asleep. She had been thinking about the day's events, her role in them, and the extraordinary events surrounding Buffy.

She turned towards her soul-mate and asked, $you still awake love?$

$Yes, what is it?$

$Crazy stuff going on.$

$Yeah, but...$

$Oh, I don't know, how are you dealing with it?$

$Getting by, barely, I just wish we had more time to get a handle on everything.$

$You ok with the initiation and everything?$

$You did promise to make it special, and boy did you deliver.$

$I'm worried about you're little 'fit' this afternoon.$

$That is the understatement of the evening, but maybe with time I will have more control over everything. At least I hope so. Why don't you tell me what is really bothering you love.$

$Am I that transparent?$

$Only to me, now give.$

$It's just that everything is happening so quickly. We are going to have children, this mind thing between you and I. We feel everything the other does. Then there is everything going on with Bridie and Aiofe.$

$What do you mean love?$

$Well, don't you think it is a bit funny that we have essentially 'moved-in' with them so quickly?$

$Ya, but…$

$Ya, but nothing, when you were making love to Bridie I felt your climax.$

$Oh,$ Buffy blushed internally, $I didn't realise.$

$It's only when your barriers are down. However, I think that our little 'accident' along with their dream walking has allowed us to bond in unforeseen ways.$

$Is that a problem?$ Asked the slayer with a bit of concern.

$I don't think so,$ replied Willow. $But that isn't the main thing, nor do I think that in the long run it will be a problem.$

$Then what is bothering you?$.

$I don't know if, let alone how, I'm going to close the hell-mouth. And everyone is counting on me.$

$Ok, let's look at your fears one at a time. First, we have eight plus months to worry about the babies. As long as we eat right, get the exercise we need we'll be fine. People have been having babies for generations, and we have excellent support here.$

$Yeah, the technological dark ages and giving birth in the middle of a war, fun.$

$But, we have the advantage of three excellent midwives, and our new healing abilities. And the war might be over by then. If everything here becomes hopeless, we just head home and have the babies there.$

$You're right, I just wish we knew more about how, and why, we became preggers though.$

$So do I, but we won't figure that out anytime soon. Now second, forget our bonding with Aiofe and Bridie and this link we now share, let's look at your un-voiced fear, me.$

$You know me too well, I didn't want to bother you with it.$

$You know that nothing you do or say can truly bother me now.$

$I know, but this is all so new.$

$To continue, I will be fine, trust me Red. I admit this thing this afternoon scared me, but I went into it willingly after all. Given time, we, and I do mean we, will work it all out.$

$I was worried that you'd blame me for all of it. It wasn't what I had planned.$

$I'd never blame you love, besides, the Goddess often has other plans for us than what we want. Now as to this mind thing, I think that we are dealing with it just fine, for now.$

$Meaning?$

$Meaning that over time, our shields will get better, you and I will become much closer and we will develop the skills to work both independently and collectively.$

$You're right. Besides, the advantages are better than the problems. After all we are never alone now, I always know where you are, and if I try, I can hear your heartbeat, and feel your emotions.$

$Exactly, now last, this business about everyone depending on you.$

$The scariest part.$

$Wrong, love, the easiest part.$

$Say what?$

$The easiest part; no one has any idea about closing the hell-mouths, so Amana and the others will agree with anything you come up with. Second, given the prodigious amounts of power you've been playing with I'm sure that you will figure a way to seal the hell-mouth, even if you have to be so unsubtle as to dropping a mountain on top of it.$

$Now that's an idea I hadn't thought of,$ Willow drew Buffy into an embrace and whispered, "love me?"

"I thought you'd never ask," the slayer whispered back as she ran her fingers along Willow's side.

"Mmm," the redhead purred, "that's sooo nice."

"Shush, let me just move you a little. Buffy reached under her lover and shifted her down the hay pile, away from the other two women, "I don't want to disturb the others."

Buffy then proceeded to kiss Willow gently on the neck and shoulders while moving her hands around the front of Willow to cup her breasts. She continued to kiss her, while stimulating Willow's nipples with her thumbs.

Willow took the opportunity offered to cup the Buffy's buttocks in her hands, she then began to use one hand to squeeze gently while her other made soft stroking motions, moving between Buffy's clit, and ass-hole. While she was doing this, Willow started to rub her clit on Buffy's leg, which immediately drew the attention of the slayer.

"Bad, Willow," she whispered, "didn't your mother ever tell you that self-stimulation leads to blindness?"

"Do you listen to everything your mother told you," quipped back the arch-mage.

"Obviously not; now let's see what I can get up to." Buffy slowly licked her way down Willow's body, stopping briefly to tease her nipples, finally reaching Willow's already damp sex.

"I just love it when you are wet," Buffy commented as she began to lick and nibble Willow's clitoris, while reaching up to pinch each nipple, rolling them between her thumb and forefinger, and using her remaining fingers to stimulate the rest of Willow's breasts. Suddenly Buffy had an idea, $if this works, we will have fun forever.$

$What, Buffy, what are you talking, no, not talking, thinking about?$

Willow was beginning to lose control as the various points of her body that were being stimulated were starting to have the desired effect on her. Suddenly she felt herself being penetrated by something, she was confused, she felt Buffy's hands on her breasts, her tongue on her clit, she could not figure out what was penetrating her.

"Buffy, what are you doing, $how are you doing it,$ she babbled, slipping from one form of communication to another.

"Just using a special type of magic on you," Buffy replied softly, "I'm using that extension thing I was working on the other night."

"Nifty," exclaimed Willow, panting as she did so, "what other surprises do you have for me?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Implicitly."

Willow felt an invisible extension caress her backside, separating her buttocks, and softly circling her asshole.

"Oooh," she whimpered softly, "be gentle, please."

"I will love," Buffy replied as she continued her oral assault on Willow's clitoris.

Slowly, almost teasingly, the extension began to penetrate Willow's sphincter. Willow initially tensed her muscles, but as she grew comfortable with the sensation began to relax them. As she did so, Buffy thickened the two extensions and then began to simultaneously thrust them in and out of their respective orifices. It was more than Willow could take. She climaxed violently, biting her tongue to keep from screaming out in pleasure. As she had her orgasm the barriers in her mind dissolved and Buffy was flooded with conflicting and confusing images and sensations.

Once Willow had regained some of her composure Buffy moved up her body and gave her a long, passionate, kiss. $Is the feedback I received from you what you get when I come?$

"Basically," Willow replied, tasting her salty blood. "I think I hurt myself."

"What did you do?"

"Bit my tongue to keep quiet."

"Didn't work," responded Aiofe in a soft voice, "you two are just so noisy."

"Can't two girls get a nights sleep without distractions," commented Bridie with an impish smile on her face.

Buffy turned to her lover with a knowing look on her face, $shall we?$

$Yes, such impertinence deserves our response.$

Turning back to the other two women Buffy shouted out, "Let's get them!"

Aiofe and Bridie were suddenly seized by unseen hands and pinned to the blankets. Both Willow and Buffy jumped on the other women, Buffy on Aiofe and Willow on Bridie, and proceeded to kiss and softly caress them, with intermittent bouts of tickling.

Within minutes all four women were once again engaged in enthusiastic love making, as tongues, fingers, and magic were employed by all in various acts of stimulation and pleasure. Finally all four collapsed in exhaustion, with very little of the night remaining.

Willow summed up the thought of everyone with "that was incredible, but boy am I going to regret the lack of sleep in the morning."

"We'll just tie ourselves to the horses," replied an equally worn out Aiofe.

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Later that morning, four exhausted women presented themselves to breakfast. They had stumbled out of bed at dawn, only at the insistence of Buffy. After completing their exercises, Willow complaining that they had exercised enough in the night, they had bathed and dressed before heading to the inn for breakfast.

There had been one other event of note in the early morning. When both Buffy and Willow had woken up, they had both immediately headed to the bathroom, were they were violently ill.

"I guess this just confirms we're pregnant," Willow said as she finished ejecting the remains of her stomach.

"Joy. Bliss. Happiness," replied Buffy, as she too finished being sick, "I'd heard about morning sickness, but the reality is far more dreadful."

Aiofe and Bridie were concerned when told of the morning sickness, and offered numerous contradictory suggestions for helping to ease the symptoms. Amana was equally worried about the morning sickness, however, her suggestions were a bit more helpful, "always keep something in your stomach," she advised, "and avoid the high fat content foods. In time you will learn which foods you can eat, and when you can eat them. It will also pass once your body adapts to the changes that are happening to it, in about three months or so."

"I'll be dead in three months if this keeps up," replied Buffy sarcastically.

They were once again eating in the same room, which they had had dinner the night before. It was the inn's common room and served as both a dinning area and as a bar. It was furnished with simple wooden benches and tables. A large oak bar dominated the side of the room away from the door to the stable-yard, and doors to the kitchens were beside it. On one wall was a large fireplace, and the stairs to the inn's rooms were on the fourth wall. It was a cheery room with several large windows and numerous lanterns for lighting. The room was about half-full, most of the inn's guest having left earlier in the day.

Both women ate in moderation at breakfast, confining themselves to fruit and dried toast.

"Bagels," remarked Willow, "we have got to get somebody who can make bagels."

During their breakfast the party conversed quietly on several, innocuous, subjects. Just as they were finishing up, Willow turned to Daithi, who had gone into town earlier that morning, and asked, "Ok, what is our situation, and what news do you have for us?"

"First of all," began Daithi, "the herald network of message riders appears to be still functioning, so they have been able to get some news here. However, the news from the capital is spotty and incomplete, but this is what we know." He paused to take a sip of juice before continuing, "It looks like the demon leadership in this area jumped the gun."

"How's that," asked Grael.

"There have been no other reports of demon attacks anywhere else," replied the guard captain, "activity in this area has been light, with only sporadic incidents of demons attacking the outlying farmsteads."

"Consequences," asked Frankel.

"Basically the farmers have fled to town," Daithi replied, "thinking that this will be over soon."

"But," asked Buffy as she idly toyed with the remains of her breakfast.

"But," he replied, "if they don't get back to the farms soon, the crops won't get in, and we will face starvation next winter."

"That won't really matter," commented Amana, "if this goes on till next winter, they've won."

"Enough about far future speculation," Willow said, "We may not survive the next week, let alone the next year." Willow suddenly received images from Shadow-cat and thought "what is that cat doing now, letting me know how she is hunting?" But the images were not the usual ones of the cat stalking and killing its prey or of it checking out the various new territories and scents it had been exposed to. This time the images were of the kitchen, and a number of scruffy looking people who appeared to be harassing the cooks.

$Buff, we have trouble in the kitchen.$

$Again, what is it with kitchens?$

$Don't know, but I'm going to check it out, you keep things going here.$

Willow proceeded to move quietly towards the kitchen door, while Buffy took up the conversation, answering Grael's questioning look with a shake of her head and a whispered, "later, Willow is checking out a problem in the kitchen."

Willow continued her stealthy approach to the kitchen door, noticing for the first time that all of the serving staff was missing from the dinning room. Thinking, "This has the look of a robbery," she paused by the door and extended her awareness to link with her familiar. Quickly making sense of the cat's jumbled images, she concentrated on hearing what was being said in the kitchen.

"Alright then," said one particularly large and scruffy man who appeared to be the leader of the eight or so robbers, "give us all your cash and horses, or we start cutting up your staff."

$Buffy, get Daithi and yourself over here; we have a robbery in progress.$

Buffy motioned to Daithi to follow her and soon the three of them were standing by the kitchen door conversing in whispers.

"What do we do," asked Buffy to Daithi.

"If they've got the staff as hostages," replied Daithi, "we have to be very careful. Remember, you are not allowed to use your magic against humans."

"But can we use it to protect the staff, while we use conventional methods against the humans," asked Willow.

"Yes," he replied, "what are you thinking?"

"That I'll use a variation of my shield spell to protect the staff, while you and Buff kick the robber's butts right to jail."

"Sounds good to me," replied the slayer, "shall we?"

Buffy kicked the kitchen door open and yelled as she leapt halfway across the kitchen, "Everyone stand still or I'll kick your butt."

Willow and Daithi followed Buffy into the kitchen. They saw the inn's owner being held by two men, while a third held a knife to his neck. Three other men, all armed with short swords and knives, had the remaining cooks and serving staff at one end of the kitchen, while two other armed men were keeping watch at the kitchen door. With Buffy's dramatic entrance everyone in the kitchen paused, for just a second.

Willow had been prepared as she entered the kitchen. As soon as she saw the situation she called out, "Fuar bhalla!" With that spell, a shield wall appeared between the hostages and the three men who had been menacing them. She then yelled, "all but one safe, take them out Buff!"

Buffy had brought with her the sharp knife that she had been using at breakfast. As soon as she gained her bearings, she threw the knife at the hand of the leader, piercing his wrist. He screamed out in pain and turned to Buffy saying, "Bitch, I'm going to chop you into pieces for that."

"I seriously doubt that," Buffy replied as she closed the distance between them and delivered a roundhouse kick to his head. The kick propelled the bandit across the kitchen, into one of the sinks.

"Let's see what you're saying if you ever get out of the sink."

The kitchen exploded into general melee, with Daithi and Buffy taking the fight to the seven remaining bandits. Buffy concentrated on the two still holding the innkeeper, while Daithi went after the ones who were menacing the serving staff. Willow gestured to the cooks and serving staff that they should leave the area, since they were now protected by her shield spell. This would give more room in the kitchen for Buffy and Daithi. Buffy had by this point had almost finished disarming and disabling the two men who had been holding the innkeeper.

$Buffy, two of them are making a break for it,$ Willow commented as she noticed one of the remaining men gesture to the other that they should leave.

$Keep them around love,$ Buffy asked, $I'm still a little busy with these two.$

$No problemo,$ Willow replied thinking to herself, "a variation on my shield should keep them inside the room. I'll just block off the door."

Buffy punched one of the men she was faced with in the chest, which caused him to double over in pain. Just as he was about to raise his head she grabbed a frying pan from a kitchen table and smashed it over his head, knocking him out for the count, and joining his other comrade who was already unconscious on the floor.

"That's three down," she commented turning towards the remaining two, "now for the others."

"Let's get out of here," yelled one of the men turning towards the kitchen door.

He ran towards the open door, and as soon as he crossed the threshold he immediately bounced back into the kitchen, colliding with the other bandit who was following him, since he could not see the shield wall that Willow had cast in the open doorway. Both men ended up in a heap on the floor, looking up at a very angry slayer.

"Stay," she ordered, "or you'll get hurt."

"We'll stay," replied both simultaneously.

"Willow, keep an eye on these two. If they move, kick their butts," said Buffy as she turned back to the kitchen to see how Daithi was doing. "Need a hand," she asked the guards captain.

"No," Daithi replied as he finished disarming the last of the three men that he had been initially faced with, "this scum is used to beating on un-armed opponents, when faced with skill they crumple."

"Well, not bad for a morning's work," commented the slayer, "Daithi can you keep watch over this rabble until the town's guard gets here?"

"Yes," he replied, "I assume that someone has already gone for them."

"That wasn't what I was thinking though you are probably right."

"What were you thinking," asked Willow.

"I'm hungry, let's eat," Buffy replied as she left the kitchen to go back to finish her breakfast.

------------------------------------------

Just before noon Willow's strike force was ready to leave, albeit belatedly. They had spent the balance of the morning being interviewed by the local police, each of them having to give a statement. Buffy and Daithi were also required to answer numerous questions regarding the fight in the kitchen. Before they could depart everyone had to promise to return the following week when the magistrate would set the accused bandits down for trial.

"That's if there is anything around next week," commented Willow to the group as they gathered their horses and prepared to continue their mission.

Willow then turned to her mounted force and said, "Ok folks, the day is half gone, but the good news is that the hell-mouth is only about three hours North-West of town. We have already arranged for rooms back here tonight, so that is one less worry." Willow reigned over her horse and headed out of the stable yard with the rest of the party following.

"We don't know what the demon forces are like at the hell-mouth, nor do we know the precise location."

"What do we know," asked Buffy, echoing the thoughts of most of the group.

"Basically," replied Frankel, as he began to perform the task that he had given himself, "that this particular transfer point has not been used that often by the demons. In addition, there has been historically little activity by demons in this general area."

"Hopefully," continued Willow, "the demon force that Buffy dismembered, literally, yesterday was the only major force in the area, and therefore I will be able to do my job without any major interference."

During the conversation, the group had left the town boundaries and had started out on the northern road. After an hour on the road they came to an intersection, the main road continuing north, with a badly overgrown secondary road heading in the direction they needed to go.

"Why do I get the feeling that this road is trying to tell us something," commented Buffy as she examined the road that had obviously not seen any traffic for days.

"You're just a pessimist," replied Willow, "after all, we don't know for certain that only demons live up this road now do we?"

"I wouldn't bet against it though," commented Aiofe dryly to her lover.

"Nor I," Bridie replied.

"Pessimists, I'm surrounded by pessimists," said Willow as she turned her horse onto the side road, "Daithi, you're not worried are you?"

"Um," Daithi replied choosing his words carefully, "worried isn't the word I'd use."

They continued on the road for another hour, with the road getting rougher and the undergrowth along side of it thicker. Suddenly after going around a corner in the woods the road widened and the undergrowth had been cut away leaving a pleasant clearing.

"I think we should pause here and discuss our plans," said Amana as they rode into the clearing, "we need to get some idea of how you plan to proceed Willow."

$Here we go,$ commented Willow to Buffy as she paused for a moment to collect her thoughts.

$You'll be fine,$ replied Buffy in encouragement, $remember what I told you last night.$

"You are right Amana," replied Willow, "it's just that I've been formulating my plan and checking for problems before I was willing to discuss it with everyone."

"Are you ready to discuss it now," asked Grael.

"Yes," answered Willow as she dismounted and walked around the glade stretching her muscles.

"My basic idea is to permanently seal the transfer portal. To do this I'm going to link with Aiofe and Bridie and use them as anchors while I shift my awareness and attempt to destroy the links and sources of energy that support the portal in the magic realm."

"Ambitious," commented Frankel, "what are your plans for the rest of us?"

"Simple," replied Willow, "Buffy will guard the three of us, while you, Grael and Amana will use your magic to keep any unwanted nasty things at bay. Daithi and the guardsmen will watch the horses and protect your, and the other mages, back while you do your stuff."

"Have you been able to get a fix on the location of the hell-mouth," asked Grael.

"I think so," replied the arch-mage, "it should be about three kilometres north of here."

"No road," commented Aiofe.

"Nope," replied Buffy, "time to travel through the woods. Someone bring the pebbles?"

"Huh?"

"Don't worry Aiofe," said Willow, "it's an in-joke."

Everyone took the opportunity to dismount and stretch before heading into the woods. Daithi and his guardsmen took the lead since they had the best chance of finding paths and trails through the forest that would lead in the direction that they needed to go. The others followed closely behind, with Willow and the other mages using all of their senses to attempt to find potential trouble, before it found them.

"Strange," commented Amana after twenty minutes of travelling through the dark, dense forest, "I'm not able to sense any sentient creatures within kilometres of us. Could they be masking us somehow?"

"I don't think so," replied Grael, "I think that somehow we happened to choose as our first target a sparsely populated area, and an underused portal."

"Let's just hope this luck holds for the rest of the day," said Frankel, echoing the hopes and fears of the entire party.

The reached their destination without any incidents, with Willow bringing everyone to a halt at the edge of a clearing in the middle of the forest. The hell-mouth was an invisible, evil, presence that they could all feel located in the precise centre of the clearing. The mages were however, able to 'see' it using their ability to see into the magic realm.

"We're here, commented Willow needlessly, with just a bit of apprehension in her voice."

"Can we do this now, or do we have to wait for a specific time," asked Buffy as she swung out of the saddle.

"No," replied Willow, "we'll start as soon as everyone has had a chance to eat, call it twenty minutes or so."

"That will leave about an hour or so to sunset;" commented Amana "is that enough time?"

"Plenty, I hope," answered Willow.

Within thirty minutes, everyone was ready. Willow, Aiofe and Bridie took up their place facing the portal and about twenty meters away from it. Buffy was with them, keeping a close eye on the edge of the woods. Daithi and the guardsmen had staked the horse's reins into the forest floor, with two of them watching the horses and the other two the remaining mages. Frankel and Amana had taken up a position about ten meters behind and to the left of Willow with Grael on the other side.

$You ready love?$

$As ready as I'll ever be.$

$Luck, knock them out of the park.$

Willow took the hands of the other two women and began her breathing exercises. Within minutes all three women were breathing using an identical rhythm. As soon as they were comfortable, they grounded themselves and prepared for Willow's expedition into the magic realm.

"Here we go ladies," Willow called out, "remember no matter what happens, at least one of you has to hold onto me, or I could be lost."

"Don't worry," replied Aiofe, "we won't let you go."

Willow took one last deep breath then translated her awareness into the magic realm. As soon as she did, she could see the hell-mouth for what it was, an evil construct pulsating with malevolence, and sucking energy from the surrounding area.

"This thing is two way," thought Willow as she surveyed her surroundings, "they must use them to transport energy back to their home worlds."

As Willow was beginning her work, Frankel noticed movement at the edge of the woods and he yelled out, "we've got company," as a band of twenty demons burst from the woods heading directly for Willow and company.

"Got them," replied Buffy as she moved to intercept them before they could disrupt what Willow was doing. The other mages and the guardsmen all began to fire missiles and spells into the demons, trying to keep them from their target.

Willow meanwhile had begun to gather energy into herself. She detached herself totally from the real world, trusting that she would be able to use either Aiofe or Bridie to return. She focused the energy into the centre of the hell-mouth and yelled out "co-healal dorrys!" The result was spectacular. There was a titanic explosion in both the real, and in the magical realm.

Somehow, Aiofe was able to keep her grip on Willow as the three of them were blown back twenty meters by the force of the explosion. The effect on the others was equally dramatic with bodies both human and demon being blown in every direction.

As soon as she could regain her equilibrium, Aiofe called out, "Willow, return to us, return to the ones who love you."

Willow slowly regained awareness of the real world, sitting up; she shook her head and commented, "Got to think of something else for the next one."

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The effects of Willow's spell were felt far away from the hell-mouth. In the demon master's situation room the closing of the hell-mouth was instantaneously felt, since all of the demons in the room immediately collapsed in pain. After a few minutes the demon master got to his feet and yelled out, "Hugh, I want you here now."

Running into the room Hugh replied, "Yes lord, your will?"

"I want you and Junulak to leave immediately and deal with those humans."

"Yes lord, but may I ask why?"

"That damn human has figured out a way to close a transfer portal permanently. If she keeps on closing them, our existence both here and at home will be threatened. Now leave me, and don't return without proof of their deaths."

A/N – thanks again for all of your reviews.


	8. Omnia Vincit Amor, Et Nos Cedamus Amori

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ivy, Sam and Bill for their input and suggestions into this while it was still a work in progress; you helped me out of several plot jams. Thanks to my significant other for all of her patience and perseverance. Thanks to my family for putting up with my not being around for great lengths of time. And finally to everyone who read and commented on the draft of this work, their input was more than valuable, it kept me writing.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter VIII - Omnia Vincit Amor, Et Nos Cedamus Amori

(Love Conquers All, And Let us Yield to it)

The young blond woman jumped to her feet and looked around the clearing she was in. There were bodies, both human and demon, scattered about like matchsticks. Thinking to herself, "damn, that was exciting," she looked over to where she had last seen Willow. She panicked, momentarily, when she could not see her, and sent out a $Red, where are you?$

$Over here, with Aiofe on my lap.$

Buffy turned around and saw Willow, some twenty meters from where she had been standing, $you ok love?$

$Yeah, but do I ever have a doozy of a headache.$

$It was one doozy of an explosion; I'm surprised that we are all still able to function.$

$Not all of us, the demons are all motionless.$

Willow stood up and continued aloud, "down and out." She had noticed Daithi and his guardsmen moving quickly between the comatose demons and cutting their throats.

Buffy, looking over her shoulder at the activity of the guardsmen added, "messy, but necessary."

Within minutes, all of the demons had been killed and the strike force had collected their mounts ready to head back through the forest to the road.

"Let's move," Daithi said, "I would prefer being out of these woods, well before dark."

"You're not the only one," replied Amana, "as it is, we'll only get back to the inn well after dark."

Grael turned to Willow and asked, "Are you up to the disposal of the bodies, or would you like to use a more conventional method?"

Willow sighed softly, looked deep within her reserves, and decided that she did have the energy required and answered, "I can cope."

With that, she once again gathered energy, concentrated, and then reached out with her power to reduce the demon bodies to their component elements.

Buffy came up beside her lover and asked, "Love, how do you do that?"

"I evaporate the water in the bodies and return it to the atmosphere," replied Willow, the exhaustion evident on her face, "I got the idea from my musings on what happens to the vamps when you stake them."

"Way cool," replied the slayer.

The strike force remounted then began to walk slowly towards the edge of the forest, crossing its boundary with less than an hour to dusk. Willow, paused for a moment and turned in the saddle to face the others before calling out, "let's ride, and ride hard; we want to be a lot closer to town before dark."

The group completed their ride back to town without any interruptions, arriving in the stable yard of the inn, on exhausted and lathered horses, well after dark. They roused the stable boys, and had them take the horses off for a good rubdown and feeding.

"Food, or bath," Willow asked the group in general.

"Bath," they all unanimously responded. Willow led them to the baths at the side of the inn, calling into the common room as they passed by, "we survived, we stink, and we'll bath before eating."

The innkeeper met the group and replied, "Yes, lord. Your rooms are ready, and we have saved dinner for your return."

"Excellent," said Buffy as she followed the group to the baths, amazed once again at the change in people, once you save their lives. Just as she was leaving the room, she turned back to the innkeeper and said, "Would you please see that our travel bags are brought up to our rooms?"

"Of course," he replied and turned to summon servants to perform the various tasks.

The baths were located in a series of buildings at the side of the main structure of the inn. There was a room for changing and a series of baths in the old Roman tradition, hot, cold and tepid. In addition, there was a steam room and a massage room. Society in this reality had long ago ritualised and formalized the bathing routine so that it not only cleaned the body, but also relaxed both it and the mind.

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Later that evening, after a long relaxing bath followed by a simple, but hearty supper, Buffy and Willow were snuggled together in bed. The room that they had been shown to after eating was best described as 'rustic'. It was small, no more than four metres by three, and was dominated by the king-sized bed which occupied the wall under the single window. Above them on the pillows was, as usual, Shadow-cat who was pretending to ignore the two women by grooming herself.

"How you doing Red," Buffy asked as she burrowed deeper into her lover's arms, the two women were spooned together with Willow curled up against Buffy's back.

"Warm fuzzies," replied the other young woman, "clean, fed, and holding the one I love."

"You sound like Shadow-cat; all you have to do is start to groom yourself."

"Mmmm, grooming," Willow replied as she turned Buffy around to face her, and trailed her fingers through the streak of white hair in the middle of her lover's head. She then began to softly caress the other's shoulders and neck; then trailed her fingers over the tattoo on Buffy's chest and softly caressed her tightening abdomen, "I like the sounds of that."

"Easy love," Buffy whispered, her breath beginning to catch in her throat. "I want to talk some things through with you first."

"So talk," Willow said, as she continued to caress and gently kiss the other woman's stomach.

"If you keep that up," the slayer commented huskily, "it'll be a long time before I'll be able to speak, let alone think clearly."

"Think, you want to think," Willow replied, as she began to softly blow on Buffy's soft blond pubic hair. She slowly manoeuvred between Buffy's thighs and inhaled sharply through her nose.

"Mmm, you smell wonderful, and very excited. Sure you want me to stop?"

"Yes, No, I mean Yes-No," Buffy babbled, as Willow began to blow softly on her engorged clitoris. $Stop that you witch! Oh my...$ Buffy's thoughts trailed off into incoherent fragments as Willow began to suck and nibble on her clitoris.

Willow then increased her attentions on the slayer by creating mental extensions and using them as additional hands to softly caress Buffy's breasts and nipples, while her conventional hands remained busy stimulating her vaginal opening and tracing intricate patterns through the slayer's pubic hair.

Buffy quickly reached her climax. Shouting out as she did, "yes, love, yes!" After a few minutes she reached down and pulled the arch-mage up into a tight embrace, saying softly into her ear, "Goddess I needed that, thank-you love."

"You're welcome," she replied, with a canary-eating grin on her face.

"Now you really look like Shadow-cat, with that look on your face," commented Buffy as she softly kissed Willow. Staring deeply into her lover's eyes she added, "Have I told you today that I love you?"

"You have, but I never tire of you saying it." Willow stroked the fine hairs on the Buffy's cheek, and continued, "I would be lost without you."

"Now, as I was trying to say, before I was so deliciously interrupted," Buffy said as she snuggled deeper into Willow's arms,

"Yes?"

"It's just that I've been thinking about what's been going on over the last few weeks."

"And?"

"I think that I understand, at least a little bit, why we are both expecting."

"I think that you are thinking too much," Willow commented as she stifled a yawn. "Go to sleep, we have to get up in a few hours and head back to the capital, if we can."

"I a second love, I want to get this out while I'm thinking about it."

"Ok, give."

"When you nearly died," Buffy started, "I lost it, or nearly did anyway."

"Meaning?"

"I realized that you were the most important part of my life," Buffy continued, "more important than slaying."

"And," prompted Willow.

"And, I think that subconsciously, at least, my body realized that and decided to create a permanent expression of my need and love for you."

"If I understand where you are going," Willow said, "your subconscious mind, using your powers and abilities, made real your desire to be a part of me, and that somehow that translated into the formation of our babies?"

"I think so," Buffy paused for a moment to collect her scattered thoughts, "its just that no matter how good we get with our control of magic and the energies around us, I think that there is still a lot left to learn."

"I agree with your thought that we have a lot to learn," Willow replied, "after all just look at this afternoon. I totally miscalculated the effect of closing the hell-mouth. I don't know how much more of that my body will be able to take."

"It was rather dramatic," agreed the slayer.

At that moment her slayer senses, kicked into overdrive, not to mention a slight burning sensation coming from her new tattoo, $Hey witch girl. Look out, we've got company coming.$

$Where?$

$Just outside, in the hall.$

$I think that we will be looking for a new innkeeper, come morning,$ quipped Willow.

$NOT FUNNY!$

$I'm not being funny. I'm terrified.$

$No need for terror, Super Slayer is here. I'll take care of it,$ said Buffy as she quietly got out of bed and began to search through her luggage. $Where is it?$

$Where's what?$

$Mr. Pointy.$

$Last I saw it you were using it to dispose of a vampire,$ replied Willow as she sat up in bed, watching her lover.

$It's ok,$ responded Buffy as she triumphantly held up the object of her search, $found it.$

Buffy began to move silently towards the door of the room when there was a sudden knocking on the door.

$Go, ahead,$ stated Willow, in response to Buffy's unvoiced thoughts, $answer it, but be careful.$

Buffy paused for a moment then answered, in her best sleepy voice, "who is it?"

The vampire on the other side of the door reacted in confusion. He was a short stocky man with long greasy hair and was wearing dirty and patched clothing. He knew now that he had tried and failed that he could not cross the threshold of this door without permission. He had received permission to enter the inn earlier that night was confused to find out that he needed additional permission to enter this room to hunt his prey. The answer that he received to his knock was not what he had expected. He was hoping that as had happened previously that evening, he would have received a summons to enter the room. He waited for a moment, trying to think of a plan, then replied rather cleverly he thought, "um, it's the night servant. I just was just checking to see if you needed anything."

$Don't you just love dumb vampires,$ Buffy asked as she turned to Willow with an incredulous look on her face.

$Makes your job easier.$

$That it does,$ replied Buffy as she briefly thought over her options. She could take the vampire in the hall, though a fight in the hall would be in very cramped conditions, or she could invite him in and stake him in the room, although the space in the room was not much better. Or, she thought, "maybe I could use a new approach to this one."

$Know what you are thinking, I do.$

$Do you now, Yoda?$

$I do,$ replied the arch-mage. $Besides, I'm not Yoda. For one thing, I'm not green, and I think I'm a lot better looking. But that's just me babbling. If I were you, I'd stake it in here.$

$Why's that,$ asked Buffy, $It will get dust over everything.$

$Well, for one thing, you're naked.$

$Good point, pardon the pun,$ turning back towards the door Buffy called out, "ah, thanks. I think we could use some clean towels. Could you come in and get these old ones?"

The vampire couldn't believe his luck; his little impromptu plan had worked. He hadn't been a nightwalker very long, having been turned only a month previously, and was still very inexperienced in the stalk and the slay. In his previous life, he had been a day labourer, and had been ignorant of the dangers of vampires and other demons. His sire had taken him as a lark, and had decided to turn him, more from amusement than need for additional servants.

He had just finished feeding heavily for the first time since he had risen, on the unfortunate innkeeper and his wife, and had decided to retreat to his lair after draining the two mortals who had just been foolish enough to invite him into their room. He was thinking that he might just take them back home, to feed on the next day, instead of draining them now. "Save me from hunting tomorrow," he thought to himself.

He slowly began to open the door, expecting to see a darkened room with two mortals on the bed. That was not what he saw upon opening the door. Just as soon as he realized that the room was well lit and that only one person was in, or rather on, the bed, he was pulled roughly into the room and then picked up and flung across it, impacting on the far wall. The vampire slowly fell to the floor, stunned by his violent reception.

"Surprise, bloodsucker," yelled Buffy as she slammed the door to the room closed.

The vampire looked up from the floor to see a vision out of an erotic nightmare. In front of him, barring the door was a naked young woman with blond hair who had her face twisted in anger. In addition, she was holding a very large, very sharp, stake in her left hand. To his left was another naked young woman, who had jumped off the bed, and was standing at the side of it. She too had an expression of pure hatred on her face.

He leapt to his feet yelling, "I'm going to get you for that you bitch."

"I sincerely doubt that," replied Buffy as she made a warding gesture and called out "greimmey jouyil!"

With that spell, the vampire was bound to the floor, unable to move. He also began to realize that in this totally unfamiliar situation he was potentially in a world of trouble.

"Smooth move lover," commented Willow leaving the side of the bed and joining Buffy in front of the immobilized vampire, "when did you learn that little trick?"

"Oh, it's just something that Amana and I worked on during the ride today to and from the hell mouth," replied the slayer, "I wanted to have a method of holding on to these slimy little devils, if I needed to ask a few questions before the dusting. Not to mention that since you arranged to make me a warrior-mage, I thought that I should really add some mage to my warrior."

Buffy paused for a moment then continued, "We haven't really finished working out the details, and I don't think that it would work in a pitched battle, or against multiple opponents. However, against a real dummy like this one, it worked out just fine."

$Questions you have?$

$Yes, I do, and what gives with the Yoda impressions and with the whole timid Willow routine? Where's my super mage, ready to take on all comers?$

$Shock, terror, fear, and the usual little things we deal with on a daily basis; and, my utterly failing attempts to control the babble factor. In addition, I think that I'm having a pregnancy induced hormonal attack.$

"Ok then," Buffy stated, leaving her questions as to her lover's hormones until later, much later. She walked up to the vampire and stood face to face with him, "I have a few questions, and you have the answers."

"Free me bitch so I can kill you," replied the vampire, not realizing that his powers of persuasion were ineffective against a slayer.

Turing to her lover Buffy commented, "One track minds, that's all they have." She balled up her hand into a fist and slammed it into the vampire's sternum, cracking several ribs in the process and causing it to bend over in pain.

"Now listen stupid, and listen good. Your little tricks won't work on me and I will cause you unbelievable amounts of pain if you don't answer my questions."

The vampire's resistance collapsed, due in no small measure to the intense amount of pain he was in. When he was able to form a coherent sentence he replied, "What do you want to know?"

"There, isn't that better," answered the slayer, "first, who in the inn did you kill?"

"Two," he replied, "the innkeeper and his wife."

"Ok, then," continued Buffy, "now, did you turn them, or just drain them."

"I just killed them, like I'm going to kill you two bitches."

"Why didn't you turn them," asked Willow, totally unconcerned at the vampire's taunts and threats.

"Don't know how," replied the vampire.

$Ah,$ commented Buffy, $freshly risen.$

"When did you die," she asked the now confused vampire. The two young women in the room were not acting the way that prey should act.

Until this point in his new life, he had been surviving on primal instinct. He had died, and then risen just the week previously. Somehow, he had known that he had changed and that his diet would forever be liquid blood. He had spent the first few days after rising feeding on small animals in the forest where his body had been tossed by his sire. He had quickly realized that part of his new abilities was the capability of causing his prey to become motionless, and remain in that state while he drained them of their blood. After gaining confidence on the forest creatures, he had only this evening felt bold enough to venture back into town. He had selected the inn for his deprivations, due in part to the indifferent treatment he had received there at the hands of the innkeeper, when he'd still been mortal.

"Don't know," he replied, "maybe a month ago or so."

"Who's your sire," asked Buffy, "and where is it?"

"Don't know; never seen him again since that night."

"Ok," said Buffy. "Let's review. One, we have a very new, and very dumb vampire."

"Two," added Willow, "we have a deviant sire running around who makes new vampires for the kick."

"And finally," continued the slayer, as she paced in the small space available ending with her back to the trapped vampire, "We have some disposal work to do, starting right here."

With that, she spun around quickly and flung Mr. Pointy at the vampire, missing him by mere centimetres.

"I missed," exclaimed a startled slayer, "I never miss."

"You missed," agreed her equally startled lover.

"So, you missed," sneered the vampire, "after-all you're only a woman and probably couldn't hit the side of a barn."

"She's not 'just a woman' you stupid vampire," yelled Willow, "she's the slayer!"

"So," mocked the vampire, "she's a slayer, so what?"

"This is what asshole," Buffy said quietly as she calmly grabbed the vampire by his head and twisted it off. This had the result she was looking for, as he immediately disintegrated into his component dust.

"Dust buster time," quipped Willow, "now what?"

"We might as well concede that the night is done and stay up to take care of the innkeeper and his wife," replied Buffy, "and make sure that this dummy was telling the truth."

Unbeknownst to the three, now two, occupants of the room the preceding events had been observed by an entity through the room's window. The creature was an imp standing about one meter tall. He had been sent by the demons Hugh and Junulak as an advance scout to find the troublesome human mage. He had been give very specific instructions to observe, stay out of sight and report back. It had taken him the better part of the day and night to fly to this little out of the way village, and from the various conversations that he had overheard upon arrival had realized that he had lucked out, and the humans he was searching for were in fact staying in the village inn.

"Nothing like a little excitement in the morning to get the yokels talking," he had thought to himself after hearing about the attempted robbery of the inn.

He had been spending the last hour or so going from window to window of the inn trying to get a handle on the number of humans in the group, and an idea on their abilities. He had watched with amusement, then horror, as the vampire had come up to the inn; as he cajoled his way into the inn, then as he killed the innkeeper and his wife. He had then managed to be present to witness the proceedings in this particular guest room. Unlike the recently departed vampire, he was old enough, and knowledgeable enough, to know about slayers. He was also aware that this was an entirely new set of problems that Hugh and Junulak needed to know about.

"Good Gods of Chaos," he mumbled to himself, "a slayer. We are in a deep world of trouble if we don't find a way of eliminating her, but quickly. Not to mention, what did she mean by being a warrior-mage." With that, the demon flew off, hastily, heading in a south-westerly direction.

-----------------------------------------------

Later that morning Buffy, Aiofe, Bridie and Willow took up the threads of the conversation that Buffy had started the night before. They were seated in the common room of the inn, eating breakfast, while around them the staff moved slowly, almost zombie like. They had been stunned when woken by Buffy and Willow in the wee hours before dawn to learn that their employer, and his wife, had been violently slain in the night. They were so shocked at the news that none of them protested when Buffy insisted that everyone, including Willow's strike force, stand in the stable-yard until well after sunrise to insure that all of the persons present were in fact mortal. After the test for mortality, Amana and Grael had arranged for the bodies to be blessed, consecrated and burned. Daithi meanwhile had gone to find the innkeeper's brother who lived in the next village, so that he could be told of the events, and so that he could come back to arrange for the disposition of the estate. They were due back later that afternoon.

"Ok," commented Bridie "let's see if I've got this straight." Bridie paused for a moment to take a sip of her mead and then continued, "Buffy, you think that the reason the two of you became pregnant was due to your anguish when Willow nearly died?"

"That's right," replied the slayer, "and the events of last night only make it more clear in my mind."

$Well at least you have a clear idea,$ commented her lover, as she yawned into her bowl of porridge.

$Wait for it lover. All will become clear.$

"Meaning," asked Aiofe.

"Meaning I have a high-risk lifestyle. I'm a slayer, and while I had an idiot of a vampire last night to deal with, it hasn't always been that easy. There hasn't been a slayer who's lived to a ripe old age, and I don't think any have ever had children."

$Have to check with Giles on that one,$ added Willow as an aside.

"So," asked Bridie.

"So," replied Willow, as she took and held Buffy's hand, "I think what my confused lover is trying to say is that she was terrified of leaving me alone, and to make matters worse I think what she is really trying to say is she is now even more frightened of leaving me, and our children alone."

"Not exactly my thought process," injected Buffy, "but I think that deep down you may be right."

"Not to worry love," replied the arch-mage embracing the other woman and giving her a gentle kiss, "you and I will live to see our grandchildren, and I promise you that."

"I'm going to hold you to that," said Buffy softly into Willow's ear. She then said aloud, "if I die before you do, I'm coming back to haunt you. There's also one other little matter that's bothering me though."

"And that would be," asked Aiofe.

"The miss."

"Ah," exclaimed Willow, "the miss."

"What miss," asked a confused Bridie, "what miss did I miss?"

"Buffy was going to stake the vampire last night," replied Willow, "and she missed."

"And I want to know why," added the slayer, "after all..."

"You never miss," replied the other three women in chorus.

"Well, I don't," Buffy concluded with a slight pout.

"I don't think it's a major issue," commented Aiofe, "it was probably due to a combination of factors."

"Such as?"

"Well," the dark-haired young woman continued, "the massive changes in your body due to the little visit we received the other night; and the reality that you haven't been able to train properly for the last few days combined with how your pregnancy is starting to change your centre of balance."

"But," interjected Buffy, "I'm not even a month along. How can that be affecting my timing and balance?"

"You'll probably have to talk to Amana about it, but I think that it has to due with the fact that you are, in essence, an incredibly well trained demon killing machine. Any little change in your body is going to have an effect on it. In addition, although you haven't begun to 'show' yet, the fact is your body is going through massive internal changes in order to facilitate the pregnancy."

"So what does she do," asked a very concerned arch-mage.

"Make every effort to train consistently," replied Buffy, "and concentrate on always working on the skills that require the most of my balance and timing." Buffy proceeded to re-fill her plate with fresh fruit and cheeses and commented, "Enough of this work talk, let's eat and gossip about our elders."

The four young women then proceeded to complete their breakfast discussing lighter topics, leaving weightier matters to later.

As they finished their meal, Willow turned to the others and commented, "Since it looks like we will be here for at least one more day Aiofe, why don't you and Bridie make arrangements for our rooms and stuff. Since I doubt that the staff has thought much about anything today."

"Will do," replied Bridie.

"Now lover," Willow continued turning her attention to Buffy, "I suggest that you go find the other guardsmen and workout, perfecting your stake throwing techniques, to compensate for the changes in your body."

"Sounds good Will," replied Buffy, "what are your day plans?"

"I think that I'm going to spend some 'skull time' with Frankel, Amana and Grael to try to get a better understanding of the hell-mouths. I goofed on the first one, and I've been thinking that if I have to travel to each one it will take months, if not years, to get to them all."

"Ouch," observed Buffy, "We're certain to run out of luck long before then."

"Not to mention a little issue like having a baby in nine months or so," added Aiofe.

"Don't remind me," replied Willow, "I've been craving chocolate all day."

"That's got nothing to do with your being knocked-up," Buffy said smiling, "but with your life long chocolate addiction. At least the advice Amana gave us has stopped the morning sickness."

"That's one blessing," replied Willow. The four young women then went off to start their day.

-----------------------------------------------

Willow gathered the three senior mages in the office of the former innkeeper to discuss the primary, magical, topic on her mind. The office was small, windowless and no more than two by two meters. It was located in an interior space just off the kitchen and therefore had no windows. It was packed with a desk, four chairs and two bookshelves; not to mention four bodies.

Grael locked and barred the sturdy door and with a questioning glance to Amana, who had already had a brief discussion with Willow that morning, yelled out a quick "cur ny host shamyr!" which had the effect of creating a sound proof barrier around them so that their discussions would not become knowledge to any prying ears.

"Ok, Willow," said Amana, kicking off the conversation, "now that you have us all in here, what's up?"

"I wanted to brief you all on what I saw, and did, yesterday at the hell-mouth, and to pick your brains on how to proceed."

"Well," replied Grael, "why don't you start by telling us what you saw and did yesterday."

"Ok," replied Willow, "this is how it all went down." Willow then proceeded to spend the next half-hour or so briefing the other mages on what she did and saw while she was in the magic realm. She concentrated on her perceptions of the hell-mouths and how she felt that they were not only transport portals from universe to universe, but that somehow the demons were draining energy from this world to feed another one.

Frankel was stunned by the information that Willow had given them and after a few minutes to collect himself commented, "In all of my investigations into the hell-mouths and the nature of the multiple worlds, I never experienced or conceived of something like this being possible."

"Perhaps," added Amana, "it was because none of us ever fully entered the magic realm to investigate the transfer portals."

"Why not," asked Willow.

"None of us had either the power, or frankly the desire, to do so," replied Grael.

"That answers that particular question," said Willow softly, "however, what I really want to talk about is how to proceed from here. I don't think that going from hell-mouth to hell-mouth closing them one at a time is very viable. For one thing it's going to take a long time, and the demon hierarchy is sure to resist heavily, given that we now know of the double importance that the hell-mouths have for them."

"And," asked Amana, "what else?"

"And," replied the arch-mage, "in a few months both Buffy and I will be very pregnant, then it will be pregnant, both of which will make travel more difficult, and then we will be mothers."

"I understand the problems," said Grael, "but how else can we proceed?"

"That's what I want to brainstorm about with the three of you," replied Willow.

"Maybe between us we can think of some way to stop these demons and close all of the hell-mouths simultaneously."

The four mages then began to discuss several options, ranging from whole-scale attacks on the demons, to infiltration of the demon hierarchy. All were proposed, discussed and rejected for one reason or another and as the day wore on, they began to despair of finding a solution.

"We've been at this for hours," complained Willow, "we've looked at least twenty options, dissected them and ultimately discarded them. Now what?"

"Now we get out of this stuffy room," replied Frankel, "and get some food and news from the others. Tomorrow morning we'll leave for the capital at first light and then we will have access to the research and the libraries in the castle."

"Sounds good," said Amana as she and the others stood up and left the little office.

-----------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, not to far from the little village where Willow's party was staying, three demons stood in a small clearing next to a creek. They were standing away from the bulk of the force that had been tasked with destroying the two world travellers and their party.

"Are you certain Talor," asked the demon Junulak.

"Positive," replied the small imp who had watched the proceeding at the inn on the previous night.

"How can you be so positive," continued Junulak, throwing a worried glance at the other demon present.

The third member of their little party, the quasi-human Hugh, was listing to the conversation with growing confusion, not comprehending any of the finer details being discussed.

"Because her companion, the one that you were all so initially worried about, called her a slayer," replied the imp, "and I watched her toss a vampire across a room like a rag doll and then proceed to rip his head off like it was made of tissue paper."

"This complicates things," Junulak added after a moment's reflection.

"How can one young woman, a 'slayer', complicate things any more than that witch girl is already doing," questioned Hugh.

"That's right," replied Talor, "you wouldn't know."

"Know what?"

"About slayers," replied Junulak, as he began to pace back and forth across the small clearing, "the last one on this world was eradicated decades ago. Well before your time here."

"So," continued the humanoid, "I ask again, what's the complication?"

Junulak stopped his pacing and looked over to where the imp Talor was standing by the creek, with a look that asked "you or me?"

"You enlighten him," replied the imp, who then proceeded to turn his back on the other two and stare out over the creek to where the rest of their force was billeted, wondering if over five hundred demons was going to be enough.

Junulak then proceeded to tell Hugh about slayers and their preternatural strengths and abilities. That their fanatical mission in life was to slay the non-human creatures considered humans prey. The fact that they were often able to defeat numerous foes at once and that they were able to detect the presence of their enemies long before they were seen. He also indicated that slayers were able to gather to themselves a group of helpers, and that when the group was able to bond together it was then able to defeat enemies many times their size. How the first mission that the demon leadership undertook on a new world was to isolate the slayers and defeat them, even though they realized that it would cost them hundreds of lives to do so.

Both Hugh and Junulak fell silent at the end of the short lesson on slayers. Finally, Hugh turned to the other two and asked, "ok, I now understand why this may, and I repeat, may, complicate things. What do we do about it?"

"Talor," Junulak called out, "I want you to fly back immediately to our master to inform him of this development, don't forget to mention this thing about her being a 'warrior-mage', maybe he has some idea about what that means."

"At your command," replied the imp as he immediately leapt into the air.

"That solves the delivery of the bad news," commented Hugh, "what do we do?"

"We, my dear friend, will immediately break camp and head to that village," replied Junulak, "with any luck we will be able to strike tomorrow at dawn and catch them all before they know we are there."

"Sounds good," replied Hugh as the two demons crossed the creek to give the news of the forced march to their lieutenants, and to begin the process of breaking camp.

-----------------------------------------------

Daithi arrived back in the village, with the former innkeeper's brother, with less than an hour to dusk. They were exhausted and riding equally exhausted horses. In addition, both men looked as if they had been dragged though the mud. Riding up into the stable yard, they met with the rest of Willow's strike force, who had become more than a little worried about the delay.

"Daithi," called out Willow, "what kept you? We were expecting you hours ago."

Daithi stared blankly for a moment, as if unable to comprehend the question, and then replied in a drawn voice, "demons."

"Where? How many? When?" Asked various members of the group surrounding Daithi in a confusing babble.

"Quiet," yelled Buffy, "let him off his horse, and let him get cleaned up. We'll have time to question him over dinner."

The group then helped the two men to dismount from their horses and then led them to the baths. They also took the opportunity to introduce himself or herself to the brother of the innkeeper, and to offer their condolences for his loss. Later, as Daithi was finishing his dinner, Willow walked over to his table to ask the questions that were on everyone's mind. In the hour or so since he had ridden into the village, he had regained a lot of his energy and composure. He had bathed and was now in the process of finishing off the consumption of a large amount of food and drink.

"I'm sorry to break into your dinner Daithi," she said, as she sat down at the table across from him, "but I need some information in order to figure out what we are going to do next."

"That's ok," replied the guard captain, "I understand fully."

"Why don't you then tell us what happened," continued Willow, "take your time, but let us know what is going on outside of this village."

"Ok," answered Daithi, "this is how my day went from bad in the morning to unbelievably worse by the afternoon."

He then began to relate to the group the events of his day. He had risen with the others to the knowledge of the vampire attack the previous night, and after watching the sunrise with everyone else, he had obtained information from the staff that the former innkeeper's brother lived in the next village, named South Bend, which was located to the south-west, about two and a half hours away on horseback. He had cleared his trip with Willow and after gathering some supplies and two horses had ridden out of the village about two hours after dawn, expecting to be back shortly after lunch. The morning had passed without incident; he had, however, noticed that the road was devoid of all life, both human and animal. Once he had reached the village, he sought out the brother, who happened to be the blacksmith for the village, and broke the tragic news to him about the innkeeper and his sister-in-law.

The man, named Hubert, had taken the news calmly, after all death was a common enough occurrence in rural life. However, it had taken until well after lunch for the two men to leave to make the journey back. The delay was caused by Hubert having to find someone to watch over his forge for the three days or so he estimated he would be gone. As they left South Bend, they could see that ahead on the side of the road were signs of demon activity, burning fields and murdered farmers. Believing that the road was blocked they decided to leave it and travel cross-country to the village of Peters Forge where Willow and the rest of the team was waiting. That had been a mistake since as soon as they had entered a small thicket they had stumbled on a band of twenty or so demons, presumably the ones who had been doing the ransacking of the farmsteads.

"What happened then," asked Aiofe who, like the others, had taken up places at or around the table during Daithi's narrative.

"We ran," replied the guardsman simply, "with only a civilian to help, and facing twenty opponents we took off as fast as we could."

"How did you get away," asked Grael.

"By riding as hard and as fast as we could away from them."

Daithi then continued the account of their adventures; how they had had to ride hard away from both towns in order to find somewhere in the woods to shake off the demons who had immediately begun to chase them. How they had finally lost their pursuers only after they had ridden down a small river for nearly two kilometres. By that time, it was well into the afternoon and after pausing for a moment to rest the horses they had ridden hard for the village knowing that the demons were sure to report their presence and be waiting for them tomorrow.

"That decides it," said Willow, as Daithi finished his report, "We'll get up three hours before dawn and head directly for the capital.

I know that it took us two days, and a little demon problem, to get here, but I hope that by leaving early and by riding hard we can do it faster. With luck any demons we meet will be either sleeping or just getting ready to attack us."

With that pronouncement, everyone began to head up to their various rooms to try to get as much sleep as possible in the remaining hours before they would head back to the capital.

Just as people were starting to head up the stairs Willow called out, "hold on a second. I have another idea."

$What's that love?$

$Slush now, I'll tell you with the others.$

As everyone paused at the foot of the stairs Willow continued, "I think for safety sake we should be in as few rooms as possible tonight. So, Grael, Amana and Frankel, you take one room. Daithi, you and the other guardsmen take another, while Bridie, Aiofe, Buffy and I will take a third. Finally, Daithi I'm going to ask that you and the other guardsmen, along with Buffy, patrol tonight. We defiantly do not want any repeat surprises tonight."

-----------------------------------------------

Three young women, and a cat, lay sleeping intertwined. Buffy stood in the doorway to the bedroom and looked in at her lover, and the two other women who had become almost as important to her. Upon retiring for the evening, and before Buffy had to leave on patrol, the four women had stayed up talking and sharing their lives together, discussing not only the tremendous events of the last few days but also their childhoods and families.

Both Buffy and Willow had been fascinated by the way that the other two had been raised, in the absence of all the comforts that they had had. Aiofe and Bridie had been equally absorbed by details of shopping malls, airplanes and other items that until very recently both Buffy and Willow had taken for granted. The woman had made this time to talk and interact, since recent events had left little opportunity for them to share their thoughts and feelings in order to learn more about each other.

After talking and sharing for nearly three hours, Buffy had left on patrol. The others were far too tired to do anything but collapse into a deep sleep, each of them praying to the Goddess that they would be able to get back home safely.

She had decided to look in on her lover and their friends, not from any sense of duty or worry, but to satisfy herself that everything was ok. She knew that the link that she and Willow shared would have instantly alerted her of any problems, but, greedily decided that looking wasn't going to do any harm.

She thought back to the day, not too long ago, just before Christmas, when she had realized that Willow was the most important person in her life. She had just returned from a particularly uneventful patrol to find Willow still awake and working on her computer. Thinking that she was studying for a test, she had looked at what Willow had on her screen to find that her friend was in fact researching demons.

She had then asked, "What you doing red?"

"Oh, hi Buffy," replied Willow, "how was your patrol? Any baddies? Just checking out some stuff in case you need it someday."

"Fine. None. Thank you, I'm off to the showers" replied the slayer. As she got ready for her shower she thought, "she's always been with me, always willing to help, to sacrifice for me. I can depend on her for anything."

Buffy had been disturbed by her thoughts and continued thinking, "Why? Why does she stay with me? I've practically ignored her recently and yet I find that even when she's not with me I think of her constantly."

Buffy had continued her musings during her shower, and began to realize that if was stranded on a deserted island with only one person it would without a doubt be Willow. She was confused by these feelings, and the not so subtle effect they were beginning to have on her body. "My body has never reacted this way before," she thought as she began to unconsciously masturbate herself to an orgasm. "Am I gay?" Suddenly Buffy realized that labels meant nothing; gay, straight, whatever. It was the person who mattered, and that if she ever lost Willow it would be as if a part of her soul had been ripped out.

Buffy went on to remember how she had come back from her shower confused, frightened and self-assured. Confused from what her mind and body was now telling her, frightened that the one person who mattered the most to her wouldn't understand, after all she had just lost Oz, and was still healing her wounds from that relationship. But, most of all she was self assured, realizing that what she had experienced in the shower was a revelation, and regardless of the reaction she had to discuss her feelings with Willow.

Still it had been with some trepidation as she finished drying off, wrapped her hair into a towel, changed into her nightshirt and walked over to where Willow was lying on her bed.

"Will?"

"Yes Buffy?"

"I've been thinking," started Buffy. She then proceeded to pour out her heart to her friend, hopping for understanding, preying for acceptance. Buffy needn't have worried, for the discovery that she had come to in the shower, had also happened recently to Willow. The two young women then spent the next several hours pouring out their hearts to each other. They spent the time discussing their hopes, fears and ambitions, not only for themselves but also for each other. Willow leaned forward and softly kissed Buffy, just as their long night was ending with the first hints of light in the pre-dawn. That first, tentative, kiss had led to more passionate ones and shortly both women were helping each other remove what little clothing they had on. They paused in their lovemaking to examine each other's bodies. They had, over the years, seen each other naked. But they had been the furtive, 'not supposed to be looking' viewings, while changing for gym or on sleepovers. This time they starred at each other, each drinking in the other's body.

Willow noticed all of the scars from Buffy's various combats, for while slayers heal quickly, wounds still leave scars. She proceeded to softly kiss each of Buffy's wounds, which resulted in her exploration of other, more tender, areas. She softly caressed Buffy's pubic mound with her lips then kissed it before moving her head between the other woman's thighs. Buffy arched her back, more from surprise at that point; however, when Willow had begun to nibble and suck on her clitoris she had gasped and stiffened in pleasure. After bringing her life long friend to climax Willow climbed to lie beside her, at which point Buffy began her exploration. She followed the curve of Willow's neck to the hollow beneath her neck. She had cupped each breast in turn while alternately sucking and manually stimulating them.

She then brought one hand between Willow's legs and began to rub and stimulate her clit, while she was rubbing her own on Willow's leg. Within moments, Willow, followed shortly by Buffy, had an orgasm. Both women had not been sated and had spent the next hour exploring, stimulating and loving each other.

As dawn broke in the eastern sky Willow had turned to her best friend and now lover and said sleepily, "I don't think we're going to class today."

Buffy remembered how the two of them over the two weeks till Christmas had spent very little time in classes and quite a bit of time together in bed learning how to love and pleasure each other.

Just then an owl hooted outside of inn, bringing Buffy back from her reminiscences. She looked over at her friends, and noticed that Willow was deep in REM sleep. She also realized that she was able to follow along with her lover and see what she was dreaming.

"This is beyond weird," she thought to herself, "Willow will be so psyched to find out about this little wrinkle in our abilities."

As she followed along in the dream Buffy realized that Willow was thinking about the other two women, and how they had become essential to her. They had taken the place of the support group that they had had back home, and the more that Buffy thought about it, the more she realized that she too was becoming more than dependant on the other two women. She also realized that it was becoming very apparent that the dependence was two-way, and the other two were becoming equally dependent on Willow and her.

"If we ever get to leave this world, it will be very hard to leave them," she though, "maybe Willow or Amana will be able to think of something before then."

Buffy softly closed the door and went back to patrolling the inn and the various outbuildings, however, no one or nothing disturbed the tenants that evening and the group was able to sleep without any interruptions.

Buffy and Padrick waked Willow's strike force in the wee hours well before dawn. Rubbing the sleep from their eyes they dressed quickly and assembled in the common room of the inn. Willow turned to the group and said quietly while trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn, "ok folks, time to make tracks for home. We will want to be as quiet and as quick as we can, so make for the kitchen, grab something to eat and then get out to the stable."

Within minutes, all of Willow's force was in the stable-yard, waiting for the tired grooms to bring out their horses. They mounted and slowly walked towards the edge of the village, not wanting to disturb anyone, or anything, else that morning. They were just about to reach the edge of the village when they saw a blood-red glow over the horizon to the south.

"That's not the dawn," commented Aiofe, "I mean, my geography may be bad, and I think that I'm actually still asleep, but I do know the sun rises in the east."

As they watched the sky get redder, they noticed that steady streams of people, outlined against the sky, were fleeing towards them. It appeared that all of humanity from the surrounding area was heading in their general direction.

"This doesn't look good," commented Buffy quietly. "I don't think it takes rocket science to figure out that something is driving these people this way."

"I don't think you'd get any bets on that something," added Aiofe.

"You're probably right on that one," replied the slayer, "now what?"

"I don't know," replied the arch-mage, "Daithi, ideas?"

"Let's wait a little while," replied the guardsman, "and see if we can get some local help."

"I agree," commented Grael, "this running has got to stop, but not here and not now. We do have to find somewhere that we can make secure so that we can rest up and plan any future moves. But I don't think that we will have time to organize any local help, after all it looks like most of them are heading for the hills, not to mention the fact that we are exhausted and lack the proper resources."

"We can't afford to stay here," replied Willow, "but where can we hole up? I mean this is your world, albeit very similar to ours. What about the mountains to the east?"

"I grew up around here," replied Padrick, "and there are some small hamlets in the mountains, rough living though."

"Not as rough as dieing is," answered Amana, "how do we get there?"

"There's an old trail to the east of us," replied the young guard, "it will lead to an old logging road which will get us to where we are going."

"Lead on then Padrick," said Daithi, "the mages in the middle with the other guards and I in the rear to keep any demons off our tail."

"What about the people fleeing the demons and the people in town," asked Buffy, "can't we stay and defend this village?"

"I wish we could," replied Grael, "but I'm afraid that this time we are going to have to just stay out of the way."

"But why," asked Bridie, "we defeated over one hundred demons the other day, what's the difference now."

"Two things," replied Daithi, "first, when we fought the other day the terrain was on our side, here its way too open to control the fight like we did there."

"And second," continued Willow, "last time there were no civilians involved and therefore both Buffy and the mages had free reign. This time we would be severely limited in what we can do, in order to limit casualties among the non-combatants."

"I understand, intellectually," replied Buffy, "but it still sucks."

$We all agree with you, but our vows will not allow us to harm the innocent.$

$Isn't it harm by inaction to allow them to be butchered by demons?$

$Fine line, but I promise that they will pay for everything they have done to this world, and to ours.$

$Revenge is sweet, but I'm going to want to kick some serious demon but before this day is done.$

"Wars have always been hardest on the civilians," responded Frankel, "but if we are to defeat the demons, we can't afford to be trapped and killed here and now."

"I understand," replied the slayer, "but don't ever ask me to like it."

"No-one likes the idea," commented Amana, "but, if Willow and you don't figure out a way to defeat the demons totally, all of humanity on this world and ultimately on yours will be lost."

"Ok," interjected Willow, "let's work our way slowly to the other side of town, without disturbing too many people."

The small group walked their horses around the edge of the village, trying to insure that they made as little noise as possible. After twenty minutes of careful travel they reached the small trail that Padrick had mentioned and brought their horses from a walk to a trot, in preparation for a hard day's travel.

"Let's ride as hard as we can," said Willow, "for as long as we can. Once we hit the foot-hills of the mountains we won't be able to push the horses much beyond a trot."

-----------------------------------------------

Just south of the town, Junulak, Hugh and the imp Talor, who had arrived back from briefing the demon leadership just as the army was moving out that morning, were driving their force of five hundred demons as fast as they could. The major problem that they were dealing with was the hoard of human refugees. They were causing serious delays in the ability of the army to travel, already that morning they were at least an hour behind schedule.

"Damn these humans to the seven hells," said Junulak in total frustration, "they are keeping us from reaching that village before dawn as we had planned."

"One good thing though," replied Hugh, "they are also keeping the slayer and the witch from heading back to the capital, not that that would have done them any good with the siege fully in place now."

"It's also going to warn them about our army," replied Talor. "Oh, well, I never thought we were going to achieve surprise anyway."

"You certain that you informed the leadership of our problem," asked Junulak, "I don't want to be unfavourably surprised later."

"Yes," replied the imp, "for the tenth time, yes I told them. He was, as expected, stunned by the news and has authorized you to deal with the problem." The imp thought for a moment then continued, "I think though that this is only one of our master's problems."

"How's that," asked Hugh.

"It's just that he seemed very preoccupied when I gave him the information," replied Talor, "almost as if he was expecting the news somehow. When I mentioned the part of the slayer also being something called a 'warrior-mage' all he did was mumble, 'looks like the Gods have decide to play dice with this little game', whatever that means."

At that point one of the demons who had been in the advance of the army rode up to the three leaders and reported, "Lords, I have news."

"Yes lieutenant," replied Junulak.

"Good news. We have broken through the last of the human refugees and now have a clear path to the village."

"Excellent," replied Hugh, "maybe we have a chance to catch them asleep yet."

"I'm afraid not lord," continued the demon, "We have spotted a small group of humans on horseback riding away from the village to the north-east."

"Curse those humans," replied Hugh, almost spitting out each word as he said it, "they knew we were coming somehow and have escaped."

"Not yet they haven't," continued Junulak, as he turned to address the lieutenant, "lieutenant, take fifty of your fastest men and give chase. I don't care what it takes but make sure that you kill them all. I don't want any alive, for any reason."

"At your command," replied the demon, as he turned his mount and rode off to the north at the gallop.

"Hugh," continued Junulak, "you and Talor turn the focus of the army to the north-east, bypassing the village. If the force I've just sent after that escaping party of pesky humans fails to eliminate them, we will have to go into the mountains and dig them out, even if it means turning over every rock on the mountain one at a time."

"We have no other choice," agreed Hugh, "failure is not an option."

-----------------------------------------------

Willow and her team had ridden hard all morning and had decided to break for lunch just as they were entering the foothills of the mountains. They had chosen for a picnic spot a small glade, next to a stream, so that they could also water and feed their horses.

"My butt will never be the same," complained Willow as she walked around the clearing trying to workout the stiffness in her muscles.

"Not to mention your thighs," added Aiofe helpfully, "if you keep riding you will eventually develop rider's thighs."

"What, in the Goddesses name are those," asked Buffy. Buffy, in contrast to her lover, was feeling no effects of the hard morning ride. The 'tune-up' that the Goddess had given her body had obviously given her the muscle conditioning of an expert rider.

"Oh," replied Bridie, "not much. Mainly heavy duty muscles in your thighs, combined with really ugly calluses."

"Joy! Bliss! Happiness," replied Willow with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

The four young women then joined the rest of the party eating their lunch. As they were finishing, Willow turned to Daithi and asked, "Daithi, before we head out could you send out two of your men, maybe all three, to scout out the area and see if we have any problems?"

"Do we have the time for that," Daithi asked. He was fully aware of the correct answer and was wondering if the pleasure he was having in seeing the development of this young woman into an intelligent and thoughtful leader was warranted, hence the posing of another little test.

"Better to spend a half-hour looking around to avoid trouble," replied Willow, "than spending hours dealing with it later."

"I agree," said Daithi, pleased to have had his assumptions about Willow proven out once again.

He then walked over to where his guardsmen were sitting, finishing off their lunch. Within moments the three men were heading out; one to check ahead along the trail they were planning to take, another to check the way they had come to see if they were being pursued, and the last to check the flanks to see if there was any force attempting to outflank them, in order to ambush them latter.

The remainder of the group spent their waiting time grooming their horses, and packing up the remains of their impromptu picnic. After twenty minutes they heard the thunder of hoof beats as one of the guardsmen returned. It was Seamus, who had been tasked with checking out to see if they had been followed.

As he brought his tired horse to a walk he shouted out, "We've got company!"

"How many, and how soon," asked Daithi.

"Fifty or so now, and they'll be here in the next ten minutes or so," replied the exhausted guard, "but a lot more soon."

"How many more, and when will they get here," asked a suddenly very concerned Willow.

"About five-hundred," replied Colin to a stunned group, "and they will probably get here some time tomorrow."

"We have two options," said the arch-mage, "stay and fight or get out of Dodge."

"As much as it pains me to say this," replied Buffy, "I say we get out of here."

Buffy then continued with her explanation, "this place sucks defensively, and we are all way too tired to fight properly."

"I agree with Buffy," continued Grael, "we need to find somewhere to hole up, to preserve our strength and to work towards a permanent solution. Its now obvious that our original plans of moving un-noticed from hell-mouth to hell-mouth isn't going to work, and that we a going to need to think up an alternative plan."

"That settles it then," added Willow after a moment's reflection, "Padrick, do you know somewhere we can lose our tail?"

"Yes lord. About half an hour from here, there is a narrow bridge over a gorge. If we can cross it, then drop it, it will give us at least a day's lead, since the only other way across is at least an eight hour detour in each direction for a small group, for an army it would probably take days."

"Let's go," said Willow as she turned to mount her horse, "we will collect the other guards as we go. Buffy, you stay back, just in case they get close."

$Don't worry love,$ replied Buffy, $we will find a place for R&R soon.$

$I'll always worry; it's in my nature to worry. Besides, if you can't worry about the one you love, whom can you worry about?$

The group quickly remounted and headed up the trail towards their destination.

Within the half-hour Frankel and Willow exited the woods they were travelling through and entered a small clearing which was in front of the small bridge heading over the gorge. They were leading the majority of the group by some five minutes or so and paused at the edge of the bridge listening for the remainder of their band coming up the trail; in the distance they could hear the sounds of battle from back along the trail.

"Sounds like they are getting close," commented Frankel.

"That it does, and it looks like they have company with them," replied Willow who then turned to look at the bridge. It was a meter wide bridge spanning the ten-meter wide gorge. It had narrow wooden planks, set close together, but with gaps visible between them. There were only rope railings and spindles. The entire also structure dipped ominously in the middle. "This bridge only looks sturdy enough for one person at a time, and then not on horseback, so why don't you head across and set up on the other side."

"No problem," replied the senior sage, "see you on the other side."

Over the next few minutes, Willow watched as more of her strike force came up to the bridgehead and crossed over to the far side. First to arrive were Amana and Aiofe, followed by Bridie and the guard Seamus. Finally, Grael, Daithi, Padrick and David approached the bridgehead, casting worried glances behind them.

"Where's Buffy," she asked worriedly, "what has happened to her?"

"She's ok Willow," replied Grael, "her 'gift' kicked into action about five minutes ago and she is holding the remaining demons back while we cross."

"Alright," continued Willow, still very worried about her lover, "the rest of you get across, and I'll wait for Buffy."

"I can't allow that," replied Grael, "you are too important to us, I'll stay."

Reluctantly Willow agreed with Grael and proceeded to follow the rest of the party across the river. When she arrived on the far side she turned to Daithi and said, "Daithi, get ready to drop the bridge as soon as the others cross I don't think we'll have all that much time."

$Lover, how are you doing?$

$Not too bad this time. At least I'm not in a berserk rage.$

$Point. How much longer?$

$Five minutes top, get everyone else across. I've sent on my horse. It's easier to deal with these demons on foot. Make sure it gets across.$

$No problemo lover, see you soon.$

After her brief, mental, conversation with Buffy Willow looked over the gorge and yelled, "Grael, wait for Buffy's horse, then get across pronto."

Just as she was saying this Buffy's horse appeared at the edge of the small clearing before the bridge, heading directly for Grael.

"No problem," replied Grael, "her horse is here, and I'm coming across now."

Just as Grael reached the end of the bridge Buffy burst from the edge of the woods. She was covered in blood and gore and was breathing heavily from the effort of running for space, then turning to fight, then running again. As she approached the bridge four demons came out of the woods heading right for her.

Buffy turned to protect the bridge and called out to Willow, $drop the bridge, now.$

$Are you NUTS,$ replied the arch-mage, $how will you get across?$

$Don't worry. I'll get across as soon as I deal with these four. The problem is that there are thirty more of them coming, and soon.$

$I will not drop the bridge, we will deal with whatever happens once you get across.$

$Just keep your eyes open for the rest of them, ok lover?$

Just then, Buffy turned and slashed violently at the lead demon, who just barely jumped back. Although he had avoided the killing slash, Buffy had still managed to inflict a deep gouge across his chest, which immediately began to bleed profusely. Ignoring that demon for the moment, she leapt to the right and delivered a roundhouse two-handed swing to her second foe, which resulted in the demon trying to stand on one blue leg while the other twitched on the ground.

"Two down," she thought to herself, and spun to meet the remaining pair of demons.

The other demons, both of whom were in excess of two meters and each weighing over three hundred kilos, having seen what had happened to their comrades, decided that staying and fighting was not a survivable option. Since the slayer was by that point blocking their retreat to the path, and the remainder of their force, they made a break for the bridge. The bridge had not been built to handle that much weight running across it at one time and as the demons reached the middle of the span, it collapsed spilling the demons into the river, two hundred meters bellow.

"That just does it," yelled Willow as she watched the bridge collapse, trapping her lover on the other side. Meanwhile, she noticed that at the edge of the clearing the remaining demons were just leaving the woods, heading for Buffy.

$Buffy, the rest of them are here. What are you going to do?$

$Watch,$ replied the slayer as she quickly surveyed the edge of the gorge and then placed her sword against her chest, which resulted in its being reabsorbed into her skin.

She took about ten steps back, and with a brief "Goddess aid me now," ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped.

A/N – thanks again for all of your reviews.


	9. Forsan Et Haec Olim Memorises Iuvabit

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter IX - Forsan Et Haec Olim Memorises Iuvabit

(Perhaps One Day Remembering Even This Will be Pleasant)

The young blond woman looked around at the forces arrayed against her, and at the chasm before her, and decided. She paused for a moment, asking her Goddess for assistance, then ran to the edge and leaped. Just as she thought she would make it across the ten meter distance she realized she wouldn't and began to fall the two hundred meters to the floor of the gorge.

"No!" She screamed aloud as she suddenly sat up in bed, half-awake half-dreaming, covered in sweat, even though the ambient temperature in the room was barely above freezing.

"Buffy," said the concerned red-haired woman sharing the large king-sized bed, "wake-up love. You're having the dream again."

Willow, due to the shared link between them, had been instantly aware of Buffy's dream, and just as instantly awakened, but as had happened before, it hadn't affected her in the same way. Willow quickly embraced her lover and began to softly stroke her face, neck, and shoulders trying to both comfort and reassure her. In addition to comforting Buffy, she was also trying to insure that they did not disturb the two other women who shared their bed, and who were, thankfully, still cocooned asleep deep under the multiple duvets and comforters which nearly smothered both them and the bed.

"Shush love," Willow said softly, almost crooning, "you're safe; you're alive and ok."

Willow continued her reassurance efforts as Buffy slowly regained awareness of her surroundings. It was the wee hours of the night, with over two hours of dark remaining before the early summer dawn.

"Water," Buffy finally croaked, and looked around the large room which was lit only by a small lantern, as if to reassure herself that she was in fact safe, "my mouth feels like it's in the desert."

Willow reached across her soul-mate to the night-table and poured a glass of water from the pitcher that was now a permanent feature of their bedroom, "here you go Buff," she said as she passed over the water.

Buffy immediately began to gulp the water, rapidly draining the glass, then passing it back for a re-fill.

Buffy had been periodically having the dream of falling into the gorge ever since the day, four months earlier, when she had made the Herculean effort of leaping it. She had nearly not made it across. Just as she thought she would fail, and plummet to her death, she reached out in desperation and managed to snag the edge of the cliff with one hand. She had hung on in desperation, for what felt to her to be hours, but in reality had been only seconds, until Daithi had reached down and pulled her to safety. Willow's strike force had immediately remounted their horses and had headed up into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where Padrick led them on what had turned out to be a two week journey to one of the more isolated villages in the area. It had taken longer than expected since they had been required to dodge roving patrols of demons most of the way.

The village of Morning Breeze was more than isolated. It was remote and hidden in a small valley up in the high Rockies, at well over 2,300 meters in altitude, far from the main roads and trails that criss-crossed the mountains. It had once been a small silver mining town, which had almost become a ghost town when the mine was depleted over forty years previously. It had survived, barely, on supporting the small sheepherders and homesteaders that dotted the mountains on the slopes of the valley. As a result of this isolation, it was unknown outside of the small area immediately surrounding it, and therefore a perfect hiding location, more than suitable for Willow's needs.

The only reason that Padrick even knew about it was due to his grandparents having been born in the town, while the mine had still been in operation. The town, with its population of less than fifty, had only one small general store, no working inn and limited amenities for the weary travellers. The one thing it had was seclusion and a large number of abandoned homes.

Willow had instructed Daithi and Amana to liaise with the villagers and to make arrangements for the use of three of the abandoned buildings. In particular, she was looking for two homes and a third building that they could adapt to become their command and research centre. After some quick negotiating Amana had settled on one building, or rather complex of buildings, that she felt would be perfect for their needs, the old abandoned inn. It was large, had ample working area in the old tavern, and had ten usable bedrooms located on the three upper floors. It had also been the towns gambling centre and therefore had a number of additional large and small rooms on the ground floor, which could be modified by the group for their own purposes. In addition to the main structure, several outbuildings included stables, a laundry in addition to an extensive bath works. It was located just outside of the village proper and was surrounded by an old fence, which, once repaired, would provide privacy and some defence against potential attackers. When Amana had presented her reasons for choosing the inn Willow had quickly agreed to its use.

The inn had required extensive rehabilitation after they acquired it, having been abandoned for over thirty years. The group had worked steadily over the first few weeks that they had been in the town cleaning it up and by repairing the windows and roof to generally make the place habitable, before they worried about making it suitable for their research and work. They used the barter system to acquire both the property and the materials they needed in their renovations, by trading the protection of the guardsmen and the services of the mages for what they required in material and general labour. They had also arranged for a number of the villagers to work in the reconstituted inn as cooks and serving help. This provided a desperately needed source of employment for the village, and in return, Willow had agreed to re-open the tavern portion of the inn for the use of the villagers and the surrounding farmsteads. This arrangement was agreeable to all, since even in their remoteness the villagers were aware of the troubles in the greater world and this arrangement gave them employment, greater security and protection.

Over the last few months they had discovered that the town had acquired its name in part due to its weather. The prevailing northern wind was bitter and very cold as it roared down over the snow-capped peaks before it shot through the valley. Due to the height of the surrounding peaks the sun rose late and set early, however, they had used the good weather available in the late spring and early summer to the best advantage, trying to get as much of the exterior work completed as soon as possible before the return of the long mountain winter, and its promised deep snow drifts. They had also taken the time to repair the covered walkways, which linked all of the buildings, that provided shelter from that snow and the harsh elements as people travelled from one part of the complex to another. Even with the current relatively good weather, the altitude, combined with the already cold temperatures on this earth, resulted in barely temperate days and incredibly cold nights. Everyone dressed in multiple layers of clothing to shield themselves from the climate.

$You ok love,$ asked Willow, shivering in her warm woollen nightshirt, after Buffy had downed the two glasses of water.

$Fine,$ replied the slayer quietly, and in answer to her lover's unvoiced concern, $honest love, I'll be ok.$

Buffy once again looked around the room that she and Willow shared with Aiofe and Bridie, as if to finally banish the thoughts of the dream, and to think over what it all might mean. Befitting Willow's status as the leader of the group, and the fact that it housed four people, it was the largest bedroom in the inn, fully five meters by four and it occupied one corner of the second floor. Embers glowed weakly from the fireplace on one wall and it along with the lantern on the bedside table and a ceiling lantern completed the sources of the room's illumination. Several dressers, tables and chairs completed the furnishings.

$I want to know why I'm having this dream,$ she continued after her reflection, $and why its happing more often.$

After another pause she continued, $maybe it is time to talk to Amana about this,$ realizing that there might be some things that it was better to talk to an impartial person about.

Willow sighed inwardly with relief, using all of her considerable mental abilities to hide that relief from her lover. For the last three months, ever since the dreams began to be a regular fixture of their nights, she, and the other young women who shared her bed and their love, had been trying, without success, to get Buffy to talk to the older mage about the dream and what it might foretell. Now it looked like her soul-mate might actually try to get some help.

$You sure about this,$ she asked tentatively.

$Positive,$ replied the slayer with some confidence, reaching over to the nightstand to get another nightshirt to replace the one that she had drenched in sweat, $I'll go see her after breakfast.$ Buffy proceeded to quickly remove her sodden shift and replaced it with the new one.

$You sure you are ok,$ Willow continued gently, as she softly caressed the other woman, $what can I do to help?$

$Just hold me,$ replied Buffy, $and let me fall asleep in your arms.$

$You only have to ask,$ replied the arch-mage, as she carefully enveloped her lover and gently stroked her arms and belly, until she fell back to a dreamless sleep.

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At breakfast the next morning, four young women sat and discussed their plans for the day. They had not changed, outwardly, with the obvious exception of Buffy and Willow's pregnancies, in the months since their flight from the demon forces that were chasing them. However, inwardly, all had undergone profound transformations. Gone was any sign of nervousness and self-doubt. The women had become assured in themselves, their abilities and, most importantly, their love for each other. Their status as quasi-refugees, and the lack of any other support, had required them to develop a reliance on each other that would normally have taken years to accomplish. However, undercutting this reliance and self-confidence was a growing stress level, due in no small part to the same forces that had contributed to that self-confidence; a situation which had the potential for disaster.

"So," commented Aiofe, "you are actually going to look for some answers?"

"About time," injected her long time companion, "I mean we've been after you for weeks now."

"I know Bridie," replied Buffy, "it just took me a while to realize it."

"Stubborn slayer syndrome," quipped Willow.

"Enough already," replied an exasperated Buffy, "I said I'm going to talk to Amana, end of discussion. Now, what have the rest of you got planned for the day?"

"Well," replied Aiofe, "Bridie and I will continue to work with the senior mages in converting one of the old gaming rooms into another workroom. This one will be for Bridie and me."

"Sounds good," replied Willow, "I'm planning on spending my day searching the surrounding area for herbs and other components we need."

"As far as I know," added Bridie, "Daithi and the other guardsmen are going to continue searching the surrounding area for signs of that demon force looking for us."

"Sounds like a productive day all around," said Buffy. "After I finish my little talk with Amana, I'll continue working on the siding of the main building with some of the townspeople. How about we all meet back here for lunch?"

"No problemo," replied the other women.

Buffy remained sitting at the breakfast table as the other three women stood up to attend to their daily plans.

Just as she was leaving Willow turned to her lover and asked, $do you want me to stay?$

$It's ok love,$ replied Buffy, $I'll be alright.$

$Don't get any splinters in any sensitive spots.$

$If I do, I'll just have to get you to take care of me,$ said Buffy, $now scat, and get to your collecting.$

$Yes boss,$ answered Willow as she gave her lover a mock salute. $Love you.$

$Ditto.$

Just as Willow was buttoning up her coat in preparation to leave, Amana entered the old common room of the inn, which the group had converted into their dining room. It was a large room with a high ceiling and several fireplaces, which provided both heat and illumination. After wishing Willow a good day, and good luck, she saw that Buffy was sitting alone, and came over and asked,

"Good Morning Buffy, how are you today?"

"Oh," replied the pensive slayer, who uncharacteristically had not even noticed her entering the room, "Good morning Amana; not so good I'm afraid."

"How's that," replied the older woman.

She had been aware for some time that something was bothering Buffy, but had not been willing to pry, hoping that in time the younger woman would come to confide in her.

"Are you having problems with your pregnancy," she asked as an opening to the conversation.

"No," replied Buffy, "nothing to do with the baby."

"Then what?"

"It's just that I've been having this recurring dream," began Buffy. With that, she let loose all of the pent-up worries and frustrations she had been feeling over the past few months. Not only about the dream, but also how she was beginning to feel superfluous.

"But," replied Amana, who had started to eat her own breakfast during Buffy's monologue, "you've been keeping up with your training, and your magical studies; haven't they been keeping you busy enough?"

"Yes I have," continued Buffy, "but after the excitement of our first month here things have calmed down."

"Only here," said Amana softly, "outside of our little haven things are grim."

Amana was not exaggerating. While the news that they were able to receive deep in the mountains was limited, it was without exception all bad. The demons had continued, and expanded, their offensive and more of the human towns and cities had fallen to them. The Capital was still under siege, and it was not expected to last much longer. Even in the mountains, they had had demon troubles. There was at least one group still looking for Willow's strike force and there had been a steady flood of refugees into the mountains, looking for security and safety.

Amana was certain however, that Buffy was still not being completely candid about her fears and feelings, and continued, "That's not everything that's worrying you is it?"

"No," replied Buffy softly.

"Can you tell me," asked Amana.

Buffy starred into nothing for a moment then said softly, "I'm scared."

"We all get scared sometimes," replied the older mage, "its just part of being human."

"You don't understand," said Buffy plaintively, "I'm the slayer. I'm not supposed to have any fear, and to this point in my life as a slayer I haven't been afraid of anything. Not demons, or vampires, or monsters, or anything; well maybe my grades in English class, but that's it, nothing that I've faced has scared me, pissed me off maybe, but not scared me."

"And what is frightening you now," asked Amana, having determined some of the grounds for the fear, but knowing that the young woman would have to articulate them for herself.

"Willow, me - the babies," began Buffy slowly, "and..."

"And," prompted Amana.

"And," continued the slayer, "and I nearly died, again."

"How does this scare you?"

"I've never had anyone who meant so much to me before," replied Buffy, "I love her, and I want to make it possible for us to be together, forever. I'm terrified that I'm going to leave her alone."

Amana thought this through for a moment. She knew that the two young travellers were incredibly, and now due to the psychic link that they shared, permanently bonded together. She also knew that as a result of these bonds both Buffy and Willow would remain together forever, and that in fact their bond would even survive their deaths in the material world. She knew that subconsciously Buffy was aware of this; however, she had still not made the conscious deduction. She decided that Buffy, having a hands-on type of personality, would need to take concrete action to put substance to the reality of the relationship that the two women shared.

"Buffy," she started, "do you really think that with the link, and bonds that the two of you now share, that she would ever leave you, or you her?"

"Not really," replied the slayer, not that convincingly.

"But even though you know," continued Amana, "you still have doubts."

"Yeah," commented Buffy, "I guess that's it."

"Welcome to adulthood," said Amana with a smile on her face, "contrary to what you may have thought while growing up, things do not get easier, they get far more complicated."

"Thanks worlds," answered Buffy with more than a trace of sarcasm in her voice.

"For you its even harder," continued Amana, "you have a very dangerous calling, in which you regularly face creatures which would gladly destroy you without a thought; you have skills and talents that you have only recently become aware of, and are only beginning to learn to use effectively; you are expecting a baby in twenty weeks or so, which is causing your body, and its chemistry, to undergo massive changes; and, you are involved in a war on a world far from your own, away from your normal support group."

Amana paused for a moment to take a sip of her cider and then continued, "I think that your dream reflects these conflicts. You subconsciously know the burdens upon you and it becomes reflected in this dream."

Amana, seeing that Buffy was sitting quietly, digesting her words, and not looking like she was about to comment, continued, "you and Willow love each other, and are meant for each other; that is obvious to everyone you have met on this world, and most likely everyone on your home world."

Amana paused once again, trying to think of a careful way of approaching the possible solution she was thinking of. After a minute or so, in which she busied herself by finishing her cider, she continued, "have you thought about making a more visible and symbolic gesture of the bond between you?"

"What do you mean," asked a slightly confused slayer.

"It's just that nothing is stopping you, on this world at least," replied Amana, "from making your bond with each other a more public one."

"You mean like marry Willow or something?"

"Exactly," pleased that Buffy had deduced the solution that she had been contemplating, "as I've told you before, in our society a person's sexual orientation is their own business, and we long ago realized that it was important for us to recognize that two women, or two men for that matter, needed the same societal recognition of their love for each other that a heterosexual couple would receive. I think that this would also help with your internal conflicts. You would be, in your concrete eyes, as 'bonded' to your lover as you are in your emotional eyes. This would allow your subconscious fears to rest, particularly the fear that you will lose Willow."

"Cool," replied the slayer with a slightly impish smile, "Willow will just love a 'real' wedding. We were going to be hand-fasted back home, but it wouldn't have had the same recognition and legitimacy as it will have here."

"Well," replied Amana, "you do have to ask. After all that is the traditional approach, in both of our worlds, I assume."

"Oh," responded Buffy, "I know that, and have already asked her once. I'm going to ask her again, and I would like your help in orchestrating the appropriate ambiance tonight."

"I'd be delighted to help," answered Amana, once again pleased to see the resilience of youth in action.

With that, the two women began to make their plans for the evening. During the rest of the morning, the other members of the group observed the two of them engaging in various mysterious activities. First, they watched as the two of them cleaned the accumulated junk out a small back room of the inn, and then watched as they turned the room into a small dinning room, complete with candles and fine linen. They then proceeded to thoroughly scrub and clean the room until it was immaculate. The two of them skipped lunch, with Buffy telling a very confused Willow to go back to her collecting and promising that she would see her at dinner. They then proceeded to evict everyone from the kitchen and spent the rest of the day locked up in it. In addition to being a mage, Amana was also an excellent cook; and in Buffy, she had a more than willing cook's helper for the day.

Just before Willow was due to return from her afternoon of extended herb collecting everything was ready. Amana went to find Grael, to have him arrange to collect everyone, under the pretext of the mayor giving them a thank-you dinner for the energy that they had brought to the small village. Meanwhile Buffy headed to the baths in order to wash the day's grime away, and to prepare herself for the return of her lover.

They had timed everything perfectly. Buffy was just re-entering the inn after her bath when Willow returned from her herb collecting.

"Hi Will," said Buffy as she sat in a long white wool shift nonchalantly towelling her hair dry in the large common room of the inn, "how was your day?"

"Hi Buff," replied the arch-mage sitting down across from Buffy and stretching her legs out before her, "productive, how was your talk with Amana?"

"Instructive," replied Buffy as she finished drying her hair, "I've had my bath, why don't I help you have yours before dinner."

"Sounds like an excellent idea," replied Willow, with a little smile crossing her face, as the two women stood up from the table to head to the baths.

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They headed to the back of the common room, where the door leading to the baths was located. They walked the short distance along the covered passageway until they reached the four buildings that made up the bath complex. The baths had been severely damaged over the years, and only recently had the group been able to restore all of them to working condition. However, Amana had insisted that both Buffy and Willow restrain themselves to the warm water, indicating that the extremes of the cold and hot bathes might not be good for their babies.

Upon their entry into the dressing room, Buffy immediately began to undress her lover. She slowly removed each piece of clothing, gently massaging Willow as she did so.

"Mmmm," sighed the arch-mage, "that feels so nice."

"Happy to oblige," replied the slayer as she picked up Willow and carried her to her bath.

A short time later Willow was lounging in the warm water while Buffy gently washed her hair. Both women had begun to notice that with the advance of their pregnancies the buoyant effects of a bath were becoming more and more relaxing. They had begun to use any excuse to jump into the relaxing waters.

As she inwardly sighed with pleasure and relief at the reduced muscular tension in her legs and back, Willow noticed for the first time that afternoon that the inn was practically deserted.

$Buff?$

$Yes, love?$

$Where is everyone?$

Buffy immediately shielded her thoughts and replied carefully, $they've taken off for the night. A party at the Mayor's.$

$Why's that, and why didn't we go?$

$It's a pretext by Amana in order to get everyone out of here,$ replied the slayer, continuing to carefully shield her thoughts in order to maintain the surprise, while she busied herself rinsing Willow's hair, $she thought it would be a good idea for us to spend some time alone.$

$Alone,$ replied Willow in amazement, $you mean for the first time in nearly five months we are going to be alone for a while?$

$Yup,$ answered her lover, $Amana and I even arranged a nice supper for when you finish your bath.$

$What's for dinner?$

$It's a surprise, have a little patience.$

$Want to know now,$ replied the red-haired woman, as she tried to read her lover's memories, $hey, that's not fair,$ she exclaimed, $you're shielding!$

$Only to maintain the surprise,$ commented Buffy, $after all, you don't want to rune the evening now do you?$

$Pout!$

"You'll get over it," continued the slayer aloud, "now, let's get you out of this bath and into some clean clothes for supper."

"Sounds yummy," replied Willow as she proceeded to exit the bath and wrap herself in a large towel, which had been held by Buffy.

The two women entered the inn; as Willow proceeded to head back to their room to get dressed she was stopped by Buffy who said, "It's ok Will. I've got some clothes for you already."

Buffy held Willow's hand as she led her to the room that she and Amana had worked on all day. Willow was amazed at the transformation of the former storage area. The floors and walls had been scrubbed till the old oak panels shone with the soft candlelight, which had been used to illuminate the room. The room also had a fireplace with a cherry fire already blazing in it, to add additional light and heat. An old worktable had been transformed into a dining table, complete with linen tablecloths and burnished copper tableware. Two comfortable chairs completed the table setting. A sideboard was loaded with several dishes that were being kept warm in chafing dishes in addition to several decanters of wine and spirits. Amana had used a process to de-alcoholise the wine, which retained the flavours of the spirits, while eliminating the risk to the young women's pregnancies. Draped over one of the chairs was a long bleached wool shift, similar to the one that Buffy was wearing.

Buffy proceeded to pull the shift over Willow saying, "Here you go love, this will keep you nice and comfy while we eat."

Willow noticed that the shift had been lined with what felt like silk, and was sinfully cool next to her bare skin. The fine hairs on her body became electrified by the touch of the material and she experienced a quiver that ran through her body. She also noticed that even with the lining the shift was so sheer that it was almost translucent in the candlelight.

She commented softly, "Buff, I'm not wearing anything under this, and you can practically see right through this material."

"Its ok love," replied the slayer, "neither am I. It's not as if anyone else can see us now is it?"

"I guess not," replied Willow, "now what's for dinner?"

"You just set those pretty buns down in a chair," replied her lover, "and I'll show you."

The two young women then proceeded to sit down to a marvellous feast. First, they had a mouth-watering leek and potato soup garnished with celery leaves and lightly spiced with rosemary, so creamy that it practically dissolved in their mouths. This was followed by a fresh spinach salad, which was served with sunflower oil and pine nut dressing. Buffy served a light fruity white wine for these two dishes which complemented, rather than distracted from the food.

"Where did you learn so much about food," Willow commented when they had finished the salad, "everything is so tasty."

"I plead ignorance," replied the slayer with a mischievous smile on her face, "Amana is the source of the food and potables, I was simply the cook's helper today. You might say I was the number one person on the chop and stir brigade."

"Well everything has been yummy so far," said the red-haired witch licking her lips, "what's next?"

The heat from the fire was beginning to provide a deep flush on Willow, perhaps aided by the intimacy of the occasion.

"You'll like this," replied Buffy as she rose from the table and went over to the fireplace.

Using a pair of fire-tongs she proceeded to remove a large piece of slate that had been warming in the fire and placed it on a fireproof mat in the centre of the table. She then collected several bowls from the sideboard and retuned to her seat.

"This is we-cook stuff," she said as she showed Willow the bowls, which contained thinly sliced beef, chicken and spicy sausage, all of which had been marinated in a sauce containing spices, oil and garlic.

"Cool," replied Willow, "do we have dip and stuff for it?"

"You bet," replied Buffy as she proceeded to show more bowls with condiments such as spiced yoghurt, rice, dates, pine nuts in addition to the more traditional chopped vegetables and sour cream that the young women were used to.

"This is great," gushed Willow, "we get to experiment."

"Not to mention feed each other," replied Buffy as she proceeded to quickly grill a piece of beef, then dip it in the yoghurt before offering it to her soul-mate, "have a taste lover?"

Willow leaned over the table, and reached out for the beef with her outstretched tongue. As she chewed and swallowed her lover's food offering, she tasted a combination of flavours, which caused her to close her eyes and moan in satisfaction.

After a moment she reopened her eyes and commented, "That was too good for words."

The two young women then proceeded to spend a delightful time cooking and feeding each another, washing the food down with a hearty red wine, which had been infused with verbena.

Before long, they had finished the meat portion of the meal Amana had prepared and were ready for the next course. By this time, both young women were beginning to feel a deepening sexual tension in the small room. The food, combined with the intense emotions that each was experiencing was causing a predictable reaction.

As Buffy cleared away the dishes Willow thought to herself, "Goddess, I'm beginning to become aroused. If this keeps up I'll soon be sitting in a pool of my own juices."

Buffy then brought the next and final savoury dish. This time Amana had prepared for them a traditional Celtic dish of trout that had been de-boned and filleted, before being poached in white wine and herbs. The older mage had suggested a dry white wine for this dish, which Buffy also brought over to the table.

"Last one before desert," she commented as she arranged the dishes on the table. "Amana told me that this was her best dish."

The cuisine lived up to its billing. The fish was light and dissolved in their mouths. The sauce was full of flavour, and provided a subtle balance to the trout, almost cleansing the palate after every bite. The wine's high notes perfectly drew out the nuances of Amana's spicing. The two women were stunned by the food, and ate in silence, each trying to imprint the emotions and sensations of the meal permanently in their minds.

They finished, and after a few minutes to compose herself Willow summed up her thoughts with a simple, "Wow!"

"Ditto," replied an equally expressive Buffy.

Buffy shook herself together and began to slowly clear the dishes from the table. Willow watched in admiration as her friend and lover performed this simple domestic task, thinking that she was incredibly lucky to have found the one person with whom she was completely comfortable. She quietly stood up and came up behind Buffy, who was stacking dishes on the sideboard, reaching around to give her a hug. She softly kissed Buffy on the neck and whispered, "Thank-you for a wonderful evening."

"Not over yet," replied Buffy, "still have dessert to go."

Willow perked up, "sweet stuff," she exclaimed, "got to have some sweet stuff."

Buffy realized that Amana had been correct. She now realized that she needn't fear losing Willow. That, they would be together no matter what happened, and that they both had difficult and dangerous jobs to do and that by working together they would be able to solve any problems that arose.

She turned within Willow's hug, softly kissed her, and asked, $have I told you recently that I love you?$

$Oh, not in the last fifteen minutes or so,$ replied Willow.

$Shameful. I've got to improve. Forgive me?$

$Hum,$ replied the arch-mage, $maybe.$

$Maybe what?$

$Maybe, if you tell me what's up.$

Buffy thought for a moment, then replied, $I'll tell all, I promise. But lets finish our dessert, and over a special treat that Amana is letting us get away with, I'll spill.$

$Okey, dokey. What's for desert?$

Buffy uncovered the last serving dish on the sideboard to revel their dessert.

"Warm ginger cake with hot honey and cardamom sauce; also, Amana said that as a treat we could each have a glass of brandy."

"Yummy!!"

They proceeded to draw the two chairs together up before the fire, pushing the dining table out of the way to do so. They extinguished the candles and sat hand-in-hand eating their cake and sipping on their brandies by the flickering light of the fire. Finally, they finished, and after a few minutes of sitting quietly each contemplating their own thoughts, and secure in the knowledge that their love for each other was complete. This reverie was interrupted by the arrival of Shadow-cat who, after jumping up on the sideboard to check out the various empty dishes, proceeded to take up her accustomed place on Willow's lap. She absently stroked the cat for a few minutes then turned to Buffy and said, "Ok, spill."

Buffy paused, thought for a moment, turned to face her lover and stared deep into the bottomless pools of her eyes before replying, "Willow, you are the centre of my existence. Everything I do and think about revolves around you. I need you, love you and constantly want to be with you. I would be lost without you. I know we had planned for this before, but now, with all of the changes that have happened, and in the knowledge that it would be on this world legally binding, I would be forever grateful and honoured if you would, once again, consent to marry me?"

Willow sat speechless for a moment, before squeaking, "Yes," she dry swallowed a couple of times before repeating, "Yes, by the Goddess yes, I'll be more than happy, and honoured to marry you!"

Buffy proceeded to embrace Willow in a bone-crushing hug saying, evicting Shadow-cat in the process, "thank-you, you have just made me the happiest person alive."

The two women's emotions then took over, with each nearly collapsing in tears. When she was finally able to control her voice again, Willow said softly, "how is it possible?"

"Amana," replied the slayer succinctly, "she let me know this morning that part of the problem I was having with the dream was due, in part, to my subconscious desire for a 'visible' bond with you, and that on this world there was no problem with two women getting married."

"I'd never even thought about a hand-fasting on this world," commented Willow.

"Me neither," replied her soon to be spouse, "I guess with the taint of prejudice back home we never thought it would be possible, here. We were going to take the hit back home, knowing that it wouldn't be 'legal' but in this society it will be both acknowledged and legal."

"Now," continued Willow, "the important question, when?"

"Well," replied Buffy, "everyone who can be here, is here, so there is no need to delay too long."

"I know," interjected Willow, "next Friday the moon will be full, perfect."

"Perfect?"

"You know, moon light..., candles..., loved-one..., romance stuff."

"Ok," replied Buffy with a small laugh, "next Friday it is. Now..."

"Now," interrupted Willow as she stood up, and pulled Buffy up from her chair, before she started to softly caress the other woman's breasts beginning to trace circular patters around her areole, "now, you take this incredibly horny woman to bed."

$Not that I'm complaining,$ replied Buffy, her breath catching in her throat as her nipples became erect from Willow's stimulation, $but what exactly has gotten into you?$

$Just the 'extra' ingredients that you and Amana added to the food,$ commented Willow as she began to kiss, lick and suck on Buffy's neck, $don't act, or for that matter even think, shocked. Did you think that you could hide that many aphrodisiacs in the food?$

$Not really,$ Buffy replied moaning, and feeling moisture accumulating between her legs, as Willow's lips, teeth and tongue continued to work there special magic on her neck.

Buffy slowly slid her hands down Willow's sides and reached down, beneath the edge of her shift. She then gradually moved her hands up along the other woman's legs, steadily raising the fabric with her hands. Soon she was lifting the material over Willow's hips, and the swell of her expanding uterus, and she bent down to softly kiss the now visible evidence of her lover's pregnancy. She noticed that Willow had begun to show the characteristic development of a dark line running from her navel, down through her pubic hair. Seeing this, Buffy softly licked along the line, resulting in a quickening of Willow's breath and heartbeat.

"That feels so good," gasped Willow, "don't stop."

Buffy stopped her ministrations, whispering softly, "Too much clothing I have got to do something about the clothing." She quickly stripped off her own shift and then proceeded to strip off Willow's.

"Much better," she whispered as she examined her lover, the sweat on her body glowing in the firelight, "now I can see and attend to you properly."

Buffy trailed her fingers through the sweat on Willow's side before sucking on them. "My, you taste yummy," she commented as she reached down, snagging a nipple in her teeth. She rolled the nipple between her teeth as she assaulted its tip with her tongue.

Willow was herself busy using the fingers on one hand to cup Buffy's left breast while the thumb made circular motions, stimulating the nipple. She used her other hand to support Buffy's head, while running her fingers in her silken blond hair. She continued her stimulation of Buffy's breast even as she approached her own peak. Both women were already in a heightened state of excitement, even before they began their manual manipulations, and within minutes, they climaxed in a mutual orgasm.

Their climaxes did nothing to take the edge off. They immediately began to caress, kiss and taste each other as love, hormones and the effects of the aphrodisiacs took over. After an hour of loving, the exhausted women decided that, before bed it would be best to have a bath. Each took a second glass of brandy, reasoning that just this once it couldn't hurt - too much, as they retired to the baths.

As they walked naked and hand-in-hand through the inn to the baths Buffy looked down at her lover and commented, "Have I told you how sexy pregnant women are?"

"You're pretty sexy yourself," commented the arch-mage.

"That's it," replied the slayer, "here we are, two naked, pregnant women stuck on a world far from their own."

"Your point?"

"Just that I've never been happier," replied Buffy laughing as they entered the bath complex.

With that, the two women proceeded to immerse themselves in the warm water, to gently soap the sweat from each other, and to bathe before returning to their room for a night of worry free dreams.

Soon after they had fallen asleep, the stillness of the night was broken by Shadow-Cat as she reappeared in the room. Seeing that everything was calm, and that her human was deep in sleep she padded silently to the bed and leapt up on the pillows behind Willow. She proceeded to create a small hollow, and then to fall asleep purring contentedly, "my human is happy. Very happy."

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The next morning Buffy awoke, as was her usual practice, just before dawn. As she remembered the events of the previous evening, she was filled with a sense of completeness and rightness to her world. Looking across her lover, she saw that Aiofe and Bridie had returned from their evening out, and that both they and Willow were still in a deep slumber. She decided to let them all sleep and after gently kissing Willow on the forehead, she slipped out of bed to begin her morning routine.

One hour latter Willow awoke to find herself entangled with Aiofe and Bridie. "Oh, goodie," she thought to herself, "bed warmers, and cuddly ones at that."

She too thought about the previous night and realised that a marriage to Buffy, even if it would never be recognized back home, was somehow 'right' and the next step in their relationship. She thought, "wedding, plans, dresses, stuff, got to get a bunch of stuff done."

Realising that she was babbling to herself she suddenly had an idea, $Buff,$ she asked, $good morning love, what's up?$

$Hi sleepyhead, and a good morning to you; just downstairs eating and talking with Amana and Grael.$

$Got an idea.$

$Spill.$

$Aiofe - Bridie - Bridesmaids?$

$Excellent,$ replied Buffy, $you'll ask them?$

$Okay.$

$I've an idea. Let's have Grael and Amana officiate.$

$Also excellent. Obviously, my brilliance is rubbing off on you. You'll ask?$

$Yep. Now get your collective buns out of bed and get going on your exercises. I'll have your breakfast ready in an hour, love you.$

$Love you too.$

Willow slowly sat up in bed and in doing so was successful in rousing the other two women awake.

Turning to one of the women she said, "morning Aiofe, how are you this bright and cheery day?"

"Cold," mumbled the other woman, still half asleep, "its way too early to get up."

"You can say that again," commented Bridie as she yawned and stretched her arms above her head, "What time is it anyway?"

"It's an hour past dawn," replied Willow, "and time to get the day underway."

"Groan," replied the other two women simultaneously, "do we have to?"

"Yes you do," replied the arch-mage as she jumped out of bed and pulled all of the covers off with her, "besides, I've something to ask you two."

"You witch," squealed Aiofe as she leapt out of bed, "what do you want to ask?"

"Yes I am a witch," replied Willow who then paused for a moment before continuing, "but a good one. Besides, I think you two already know what's going on, or didn't Amana spill the beans last night?"

"All she would tell us," Said Bridie, "is that the two of you needed some time alone."

"So Buffy could work out some problems," added Aiofe.

"Well..." said Willow timidly, "Buffy and I are going to get hand-fasted next Friday."

"Excellent," said Aiofe, "congratulations to the two of you."

"About time," added Bridie, "if there was ever two people intended for each other it's you two."

"Thank-you," replied Willow, "But there is one thing that the two of us would like you two to do."

"And that is," said Bridie.

"We would be more than pleased if you would be our witnesses and support in the circle," said Willow.

"The two of you have become over the last few months the closest thing Buffy and I have to family on this world. If our real family isn't going to be able to be in attendance, we can think of no finer people to stand in their stead."

"Yes," both women said. Bridie then continued, "We are honoured that you asked, and would like you to know that you have become part of our family."

"But what about Grael and Amana," asked Aiofe, "I would have thought that you would have considered them to be family too."

"We do think of them as family," Answered Willow, "and that is why Buffy is now asking them to officiate in the circle for us. Also, given that we have become very close to you two, and hope that that continues, we think that having you as our witnesses would work out the best - all things considered."

"Way cool," said Aiofe, having picked up way too many of Buffy and Willow's sayings.

"And there is no way that we would not want to stay in your lives," added Bridie.

$Lover, they said yes.$

$Cool,$ replied Buffy, $so did Amana and Grael.$

"Ok ladies," said Willow, "let's get our butts downstairs and get with the exercise and bathing. Buffy has promised a breakfast of some kind in an hour."

The three young women left their room and proceeded to get their day started. Once they had settled into the village they, along with Buffy and the guardsmen, had resumed their daily exercise routines. It provided a routine to their exile, in addition to the obvious benefits to Buffy and Willow's pregnancies. In spite of their daily grumbling, none of the women would have willingly given up the exercise, for, as had happened to others, the daily routine had become a habit that was very hard to break. After their exercise and bath they were returning to the inn in a very relaxed mood, laughing and chatting, wondering just what Buffy was going to put together for breakfast.

"Juice and fruit," was Bridie's opinion, "she would be far too dangerous using a stove."

"Not fair," interjected Willow, "she's very capable in the kitchen, usually."

"Usually," asked Aiofe, "what do you mean by 'usually'."

"If she isn't preoccupied or worried about something," replied the arch-mage.

Just as they entered the common room the three women heard a boom, as the building shook around them. They then saw a cloud of dark smoke billow out of the kitchen and rise to the high ceiling of the room.

"Buffy," they all said together as they broke into a run towards the kitchen, to see just what damage had been done by the slayer.

As they entered the kitchen, they could see Buffy standing over the stove, holding a pot, which was still belching acrid smoke. There other evidence of damage, Buffy's singed hair, her soot streaked clothing and droplets of blackened porridge that had been scattered throughout the kitchen. Buffy was looking, with a vexed expression, at the pot, as if it had deliberately caused the explosion. Meanwhile the usual occupants of the kitchen, the three cooks and their assistants, were trying, with various degrees of success, to keep from doubling over in laughter.

"Buffy," said Willow as she came up to her lover, "what happened?"

"Oh, hi Will," replied Buffy, "guess I had too much pressure."

At that everyone, Willow included, broke out in laughter over the unintended double meaning in Buffy's words. They were unable to bring themselves under control, every time someone stopped laughing, they would either see Buffy, or remember her words, and start to laugh again.

"This is so not funny," commented Buffy when everyone had finally started to calm down, "I mean it," she continued, "here I am, trying to do something good and..." at that point even Buffy lost it as she too broke down, seeing the humour in the situation.

"Anyone for crispy porridge," she asked through her giggles, tears streaming down her face, "got lots, with extra burnt flavour, more than enough for everyone."

Later that morning the four women were sitting around a kitchen table, still giggling about the 'porridge' incident. Buffy had taken the time to clean up and had had Amana trim her bangs, removing the worst of the singeing. They were sitting, eating a breakfast of meat, eggs, fruit and baked goods, all of which had been prepared by the experts in the kitchen.

"No porridge," commented Aiofe, "not for a long time."

"I don't think that I'll ever look at it the same way ever again," added Willow.

"Me neither," said Buffy, not at all upset at the events.

She was able to look at the humour in the situation, and realized that the kitchen accident had given them all a much-needed cathartic release. They had all been so wound up by the events of the last few months, combined with the pressures of rehabilitating the inn that they were beginning to become stressed out.

"Well," said Willow, "now that we are all gathered together, let's discuss the upcoming nuptials."

"Yes. Lets," added Buffy, "after all it is in five days."

"How can we help," asked Aiofe, "we are ready to be your dogsbodies."

"List, have a list," replied Willow, "I'm sure I have to have a list."

"Easy lover," commented Buffy, "deep breath and take it one step at a time."

"Right," replied Willow as she took a sharp intake of breath and continued, "ok, I don't think we need to worry about things such as invites and such."

"Nope," interjected Buffy, "that's easy. Everyone in the town is invited."

"So," continued the arch-mage, "we'll need you two to make sure everyone knows about the events."

"No problemo," replied Bridie, "what else?"

"Well," continued Willow, "there are flowers and other stuff for the circle. I guess your best bet would be to work with Amana on that. No need to worry about dresses at least, since we'll be using our ritual robes."

"Ok," said Aiofe.

"Rings," injected Buffy suddenly, "we need to do something about rings."

"That's ok love," replied Willow, "I've an idea about that."

"Well then," said Buffy, "carpe diem."

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The four women left the table to start their various activities. Aiofe and Bridie went off to find Amana and Grael, to start the required work on collecting the necessary items for the hand fasting. Meanwhile, Willow lead Buffy to one of the smaller rooms of the inn, which she and Buffy had earlier appropriated as their own personal workroom, to put into action her plan for the rings.

Willow was going to try to combine each of their essences into the molecular structure of the rings. In order to do this she was going to create pure gold, since it was one of the most magically reactive substances that could be used for rings. She was then going to forge the rings, and in their making incorporate both the biological and magical essences of both of them into the rings. It was going to be a long, and exhausting day for the both of them.

Willow explained the basics of her plan to Buffy as they gathered the material they needed together.

"Ok, Buff," she said, "first we're going to purify some gold."

"What gold?"

"We have a little ore that Grael found in the mountains a few weeks ago," replied the arch-mage, "it should provide enough for two rings."

"Sounds good," said Buffy, "how do we purify it?"

"Well," replied Willow, "we are going to have to work together on this. First, you are going to use your ability to manipulate air to create a small vacuum around the ore."

"Sounds ok, so far."

"Then I'll use my ability to manipulate earth to extract all of the impurities out of the ore, leaving us with pure gold."

They proceeded as Willow had outlined. They used a previously created box into which they placed the ore. Buffy concentrated on the air located within the box, and then gradually reduced the air content until she had been successful in creating the desired vacuum. At the same time, Willow used her abilities to seal the box, so that no air would leak back into it. Once the vacuum had been created Willow looked within to the see the ore sample; using her inner eye, she looked deep within the sample until she was able to identify its molecular makeup. She identified the parts of the ore that was gold, and then forced it to gather together and leave the ore sample. Once they opened the box, they were left with a lump of pure gold, and another lump of various trace elements.

This had been an exhausting and lengthily process that took over four hours to complete. At the end, Willow was exhausted, and there was still a lot of work yet to be done. After wolfing down a quick lunch of cheese and bread, which had been brought to them by Amana, Willow set out to complete the first part of the ring forging.

"That was harder than I thought it would be," commented Willow as she finished her lunch.

"What's next," asked Buffy?

"Oh," replied Willow, "not too much. Just forge the rings and incorporate our essences into them."

"Curb the sarcasm," said Buffy, "how am I going to help?"

"After I create the rings," answered Willow, "you are going to collect some blood from each of us, in addition to some of our magical essence, and then we will both work together to combine them into the rings."

"Let's do it," said Buffy.

Willow concentrated on the pure gold that she had extracted. Using her ability to manipulate the essence of earth, she split the gold into three equal portions. With Buffy's assistance, she created a pocket of heat, surrounding the gold. Once the gold had been heated to the correct temperature she levitated, and then she started to rotate the gold, spinning it out into three long strands. As soon as she was satisfied with the length and consistency of the strands of gold, she then braided the strands together. Finally, she split the braid in two before joining the ends of each portion, thereby creating the basis of the rings. The rings were still glowing with heat, since Willow had not yet quenched the rings.

"Ok love," said Willow, the sweat dripping off her body and the exhaustion evident in her voice, "your turn."

"Right you are," replied Buffy who then began her portion of the ritual. First, she used a scalpel to collect from each of them a small amount of blood, which she then placed in a crucible. Looking deep within herself, she translated her sight so that she could see into the magical realm. Finding the ties that bound her permanently to Willow, she used some of her biofeedback ability to direct a small amount of the essence and energy from the ties into the crucible. She then forced the biological and magical elements to combine to form a single tincture.

Both women then worked together to force the tincture of their essences into the still reactive rings. Finally, once Willow was convinced that the molecular structure of the gold had been bonded to their essences, she used her ability to manipulate water to create a small pool of pure water, in a copper basin which had been placed under the rings, in which to quench them.

Steam rose from the surface of the water as she released her hold on the rings and they dropped into the basin. After several minutes both women leaned over the basin and saw on the bottom the two rings, glowing with both reflected light and somehow with their own luminescence.

"Wow," commented Buffy as she retrieved the rings from the basin, "that was amazing."

"No kidding," replied the exhausted arch-mage, "I need a bath, food and a cuddle. Not necessarily in that order."

"Your wish is my command," said Buffy, "will you need me to carry you to the bath?"

"I don't think that will be necessary," answered her lover with a smile, "but you may have to support me on the way."

As they were leaving their workroom and heading back through the common room to the baths, the women noticed that there was a gathering of people near the entrance of the inn. Looking over and seeing that Amana, Grael, Aiofe and Bridie were all standing near the door Willow called out, "what's up folks?"

Amana turned around and seeing the two women replied, "Buffy, Willow are you finished?"

"Just now," answered Buffy.

"Good," replied the older woman, "please come over. We have guests. Daithi has brought in another group of refugees."

$Guests,$ asked Willow, $we've had refugees before, but what does she mean by calling this group guests?$

Previously when they had come across groups of fleeing humans they had offered some sanctuary before sending them across the mountains to safer locations. Never before had they invited any of them to stay longer than a week or so.

$Don't know love,$ replied Buffy, $let's go see.$

They went over to the entrance to find a group of about ten young women, surrounded by most of Willow's task force. They were all in their late teens or early twenties, and in very good physical shape. In their soiled and ripped clothing and exhausted expressions, they bore the evidence of days of hard travel. Standing just in front of the group, and giving the appearance of being its leader was one blond haired woman staring at the floor of the inn. Sensing Willow and Buffy's approach she slowly raised her head until she was looking directly at them.

Both young women were stunned. Standing facing Buffy was her identical twin. She wasn't pregnant, nor was she in the superb physical shape that Buffy was in, but the face was identical.

As Buffy and Willow stood in disbelief with the others, she addressed Willow in a voice that was tired beyond belief, "Lady, we have been called to help."

A/N – thanks again for all of your reviews.


	10. Docendo Discitur

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter X - Docendo Discitur

(One Learns by Teaching)

Willow looked at the twin of her lover standing before her and asked, "Who are you?"

"Lady," replied Buffy's twin, "my name is Sonya."

"Ok Sonya," continued Willow as she began to pace back and forth, "you say you were called. Who called you?"

"One night, as I was sleeping, the Goddess came to me in a vision and told me that I was needed here."

"She did say that she would provide help," commented Buffy, speaking for the first time since finding out that she had a twin sister on this world.

"That's true," replied Willow, "but I just don't have the energy to deal with this right now." Turning to Amana she continued, "Amana, I'm way too tired, dirty and hungry to deal with this now. Find them some rooms, maybe on the third floor, get them feed and cleaned up, and we will discuss this at dinner."

Willow then turned back to Sonya and said, "Sonya, this is Amana, she is going to make your group comfortable, and we will continue our discussion tomorrow."

"Our thanks, Lady," replied the other young woman.

"Ok, Buff," said Willow as she grabbed her lover's hand, and practically ran towards the door to the baths, "on to the baths."

"Alright, lover," replied her very confused soul-mate, "but what's the rush?"

"Too much input," replied Willow, "I'm going to need some time to digest it all."

"I'm kind of spooked myself," answered Buffy as they entered the passageway leading to the baths.

"It's more than being spooked," said Willow, "given the similarities between this world and ours, I should have considered the possibility, but I didn't. Now the reality is here and I'm the one in charge."

"You'll deal," said Buffy softly as she drew her lover into a comforting embrace, "just as we have dealt with everything so far."

Buffy ran her fingers through Willow's now very long red tresses, marvelling once again at its texture and softness. Both women had let their hair grow over the last few months; Willow's now reached to the small of her back, with Buffy's reaching well below her backside.

"Lets bathe," she continued, "and talk about other things, and once we've had a chance to relax and regain some balance we will worry about our new guests."

Later that evening, after Buffy and Willow had had the opportunity to bathe and change into clean clothing, the entire strike force was assembled in the common room of the inn eating dinner.

Turing to Amana Willow asked, "What does this development mean, and what do you recommend we do now?"

Frankel hemmed and cleared his throat before saying, "Amana, if you please, I think that I may be able to provide some incite on this matter."

"How's that," asked Amana, "do you think that this has something to do with what we are trying to accomplish?"

"Not directly," replied the sage, "at least I don't think so."

"Then what do you think," asked Willow.

"In my initial research of the various worlds, and in the development of a theory to explain it all, I determined that this 'twinning' of specific people might be possible. That is to say given similar conditions, on similar worlds, people might come together in the same manner, to produce children, and that those children would meet and produce children and so on. However, in looking at the mathematics of this aspect of the theory I put the odds of this actually happening at an astronomical level."

"How high," asked Buffy softly, "are we talking like one in a billon or so?"

"More like one in an octilliard," replied Frankel.

"Huh," asked a very confused, and numerically challenged, Buffy.

"One followed by fifty-one zeros," answered Willow.

"If we factor in other things," continued Frankel, "such as surviving the demon onslaught, travelling through dangerous territory and knowing just where to travel to, the odds of Deity help not being involved are too small to warrant consideration."

"Ok," said Willow, "I'm willing to buy into the idea that they, or at least Sonya, received some Devine help, and that there may be plans going on that are bigger than we are, but I need some more info before deciding what to do with them. Amana, what did you learn as you were getting them settled?"

"A few things," replied the older mage, "first that they were all 'called', however, based on their accents, they have all come from various parts of the country. Second, as a result of this geographical diversity, some will have been travelling for only a few weeks; others would have had to start travelling shortly after you arrived in February. Third, they are all tired, filthy and very undernourished; apparently conditions out in the countryside are bleaker than we thought. Some of them told me that they've been chased and harassed from the moment they started. Fourth, they all congregated in one area down the mountain, it was only a few days ago that Sonya said it was time to come up and find this village. Apparently only Sonya was told how to find us, and she had been waiting until everyone arrived before heading up the mountain."

"Well, as usual," said Willow, "that answers a number of questions, but asks a bunch more."

"Such as," asked Buffy, still not totally comfortable with the idea of having a duplicate on this world.

"Such as why they are here," replied her lover, "and what we are going to do with them."

"Those questions can wait until tomorrow," said Aiofe, "let's finish dinner and get to bed."

"That is an excellent suggestion," continued Bridie, "if I'm not mistaken the two of you have lots of work to do - after all you are going to be hand-fasted in four days."

"Not that I was going to forget," said Willow as she stifled a yawn, as the exhausting efforts of the day overtook her adrenaline high, "but you're right, I definitely need to get some sleep, and soon." Willow looked over at Buffy, who was sitting next to her, and noticed that the slayer was beginning to nod-off, "and judging by my lover's droopy eyelids, she's not doing much better."

"What" asked a sleepy Buffy, "what are you three talking about?"

"Nothing love," replied Willow, "just that it's time to get to bed."

"That I can deal with," said the slayer as she slowly pushed herself up from the table and stretched her arms above her head, "bed, smooches, snuggle and sleep."

The four young women then said their goodnights to the rest of the group and headed up to their room. As they were leaving Amana turned to Grael and asked softly, "everything going to be ok?"

Grael thought for a moment before replying, "I think so. This might prove to be a catalyst that Willow needs to come to a solution to our problem."

The two older mages then fell into general conversation with Daithi, Frankel and the other guardsmen, discussing the work yet to be done on the inn, what was to be done to get ready for the upcoming wedding ceremony and other, safe, topics of dialogue. As the evening wore on, the various members gradually left the table to their own beds eventually leaving only Amana and Grael sitting before the fire.

Amana poured the two of them another glass of mead before turning to her long-time friend and lover asking, "Is this all going to work out?"

"I believe so."

"But..." prompted Amana.

"But, I think that it's going to take a lot more work before we're done."

"I agree, and I think that Buffy taking the step of making the relationship between them permanent, at least here, is a good start."

As she was speaking, Amana noticed that she had been joined by another presence on the back of the chair. Looking back, she saw Shadow-cat stretched out along the chair back, basking in the heat of the fire.

"Shadow-cat," she said softly, "what are you doing down here? Is it too noisy upstairs? Come down and curl up on my lap." Amana said, patting her lap as an invitation.

Shadow-cat looked down, weighed the effort versus the benefits; deciding that a nice comfy lap was better than the back of the chair, and jumped down onto Amana's lap. She curled up into a ball and began to purr softly thinking, "Maybe I'll get an ear scratch too."

Amana proceeded to do just that, absently stroking Shadow-cat as she took up the conversation, "I don't know how the two of them do it."

"Do what?"

"Cope." Seeing a quizzical looking in Grael's face she continued, "just look at what the two of them have been through, then ask yourself if you would have handled it as well as they have, especially given that they are so young, and not from this world."

Grael thought for a moment before replying, "You know, as usual you're right. I've been so wrapped up in survival and making a secure base here that I never gave it any thought. What got you thinking about this though?"

"Yesterday, when Buffy came to ask me for help. As we were talking I just began to realize all of the things that have happened, and the stress that that would be putting on a person."

"This is obviously leading to something."

"You know me far too well," replied Amana laughing, "but I do in fact have a plan."

"And that is?"

"Oh, you'll see," said Amana, with a twinkle in her eye, refusing to divulge any other information.

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Elsewhere on the mountain, other beings were in less comfortable surroundings. The demon Junulak, the imp Talor and the quasi-human Hugh were sitting around a small fire, which did little to alleviate the subzero temperatures, in a glade near the edge of the tree line. The three of them, along with nearly one-hundred other demons, who were bivouacked in the nearby trees, had been working their way through the mountains for the last four months, trying to find out where the slayer and the rest of the humans with her had gone to ground. It had been a search without any signs of success, or ending.

"At least we know where they aren't," commented Hugh, "that must be good for something."

"Just perfect," replied Talor sarcastically, "we've managed to search, what, maybe five percent of the mountains. That's a real accomplishment. Much more of this type of success and our dreaded master will be using our bleached bones for fang-picks."

"You've got that part right," added Junulak, "I don't know how much longer we will be able to put him off with reassurances of 'soon'."

"At least he's been too preoccupied to wonder all that much about our search," added Talor, "with all of the forces he's been taking from us for the various attacks he's conducting, we could always claim that we haven't got enough solders to do the job properly."

The initial force of nearly five hundred demons that the three of them had taken into the mountains had been slowly reduced to the less than one hundred that remained. The various offences that the demons had underway were requiring more and more resources, and the demon master that controlled this sector had been required to strip Junulak of almost his entire force. However, all three of them knew that that would be no excuse for their failure to find the humans they had been tasked to find.

"Junulak," said Hugh tentatively, "I know that you've been reluctant to attack the small villages and hamlets in the fear that it would force those that we are looking for either out of the mountains or deeper into them, but I think that we are going to have to start interrogating some of the local population to see it they know anything."

"I agree," added Talor, also being very careful in choosing his words, "the time for subtlety has gone."

"I'll give it some thought," replied Junulak as he stood up from the fire and began to walk through the woods.

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Breakfast the next morning found Sonya and her group of ten women sitting with Willow's task force. After they had all had a chance to eat most of their meal, and had an opportunity to make small talk in an effort to get to know each other better, Willow turned to Amana and seeing her answering nod, stood up to address the group. She and Amana had talked earlier in the morning and had come up with a plan, and a schedule for their guests.

"People," Willow said as she cleared her throat waiting for the various side conversations to die down, "people, can I have you attention for a moment."

After she had everyone's attention she then continued, "now that we've had a chance to get to know each other a little bit, I think that it's time that I outline what my plans are for our newcomers over the next few days or so."

That statement had the effect that Willow was looking for, as everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to face their acknowledged leader.

"First," she said as she began her outline of the plan, "I wish to offer a welcome and a home to Sonya and the other women who came in with her. They have all endured much hardship and peril in order to get here, and I want them to know that they have now found a home, and I hope in time some new friends."

With that statement, there were shy smiles of relief on the faces of the young women, they had all had small internal fears that they would not be welcomed, and that they would be sent on their way. Now they knew that they once again had a place to call home, and, in time, people that would be there for them.

"Second," continued Willow, "I would like to stress to our new friends that everything comes with a price," seeing a few questioning looks on their faces she added with a little smile, "there is still a lot of work to be done on our quarters here, and as you might guess, you will be involved in doing that work."

They all relaxed with those words, they were used to hard work and realized that they would be required to assist everyone in the work that was going on in the village, in order to truly make this village their new home.

"Third, as you may have figured out by now, some of us are mages, and if I may be permitted a moment of false modesty, pretty powerful ones at that. So, we are going to put all of you through a series of tests, to see if any of you have magic potential. Frankly, we are doing this because we are going to need all of the help we can get before we are done."

This caused a minor amount of concern amongst the young women. Most of them had never even considered that they may have magical abilities, and were worried about what the tests entailed. However, they knew that they had been called by the Goddess to this place in order to help humanity in its need, and knew that they would therefore be required to do what ever it took to be of assistance to this powerful woman who was addressing them.

Seeing the slight looks of worry on several faces Willow said softly, "don't worry, the tests are totally unobtrusive, and will not be done without your consent or full understanding of what is happening."

Reassured by Willow's words, any worry that the women were feeling was relieved.

"Fourth," continued the arch-mage, "we are also going to arrange for the eleven of you to receive some arms training, since I think that magic alone is not going to solve our little problem. Trust me on this one you will reap 'all' of the benefits of the training."

The young women were all pleased at this news. They, for the most part, had never learned to defend themselves and had at various points in their lives felt distress when in situations where they were not able to help themselves. They knew that they would not become 'superwomen' with the training that they were going to receive - especially in the short term, but that it would help build their self-confidence, which they were beginning to understand they would need in the future.

"Fifth, and in my humble opinion the most important," with this there were some snickers from Aiofe and Bridie, "we are having a little celebration on Friday, to which you are all invited."

There were broader smiles at this information, a celebration, for whatever reason, was more than welcome after weeks of uncertainty and perilous travel.

"Finally, I've come up with a tentative schedule for you. We have planned for the eleven of you to spend the next month or so helping with the work on the inn, and on gaining some proficiency with arms and armour. Then we will have you work with Daithi and the other guardsmen in one, securing the village and two, working through the surrounding area checking for trouble before it can find us. We also hope to have you seek out and find other people who might be able to assist me in the task at hand before winter locks us in."

This plan was more than acceptable to the young women; they would be given work of great importance and would be able to directly assist Willow in the task that she was given.

"Now," continued Willow, "before I finish dominating your time, and let you all get back to your breakfasts, are their any questions?"

Willow waited a few moments and when it became obvious that nobody would ask a question, at least in a group situation, said, "Well that's good then, now let's finish eating and get the day underway."

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For the rest of the day the new arrivals were subjected to various examinations by members of Willow's strike force. They were measured and outfitted for new clothing, since what they had arrived in was no longer wearable. They were also measured for arms and armour, although it would be several weeks before the leatherworker and the blacksmith would have their various pieces of equipment ready. Throughout the day they were taken individually to meet with Willow, Amana and Grael in Willow's workroom to have their magical potential assessed. Finally, they were all assigned work to do; some of them to make their rooms on the third floor more liveable, and others to help Frankel and Daithi with the multitude of other tasks that still needed to be done on the inn and its various outbuildings. In the meantime, both Aiofe and Bridie were busy collecting the various items that Grael and Amana required for the upcoming nuptials. Buffy spent the day being a runner for Willow; finding the women to be tested and bringing the three mages their lunch and supper.

By the end of the day, the three mages had been able to appraise all of the young women. As the sky moved from twilight to darkness, they were sitting before the fire in Willow's workroom discussing their findings, the remains of a hastily consumed dinner on the table in front of them.

"Goddess," said Willow with a soft sigh, before draining a glass of fortified wine, which Amana had allowed under the circumstances, "I'm exhausted. I never thought that it would be so draining to test for magical potential in someone."

"I agree it's not the easiest job," replied Amana, "but at least it's done."

"Not too much to show for the effort though," said Grael, "only two with more than a rudimentary level of ability."

"All that means," added Amana, "is that most of them, including Sonya I might add, were chosen for something other than their magical ability. In time we will find out what it is, of that I'm certain."

"However," said Grael, "having them here will solve one little problem."

"That is," asked Willow.

"We will be able to use them to fill out the circle at the hand-fasting," replied the older mage, "up until now we only had Frankel, what with you, Buffy, Aiofe, Bridie, Amana and myself all fulfilling other roles."

As Grael was finishing her sentence there was a soft tapping on the door to the study, followed by the entrance of Buffy, Aiofe and Bridie. Buffy went up to Willow and proceeded to plant herself on the arch-mage's lap, tucking her feet under herself as she did so.

"To what do we owe this totally pleasant interruption," asked Willow before giving her lover a welcoming kiss.

"It's just that the three of you have been in here since before lunch," replied the slayer, "and that it's now well after dinner; so, we are going to kidnap you and take you to bed."

"After all," added Aiofe, with just the hint of an impish smile crossing her face, "you do need you rest."

"Why do I get the feeling that 'rest' is the least of your concerns?"

"Do I hear a note of disbelief," answered Bridie, "what, don't you trust us?"

"Well," replied Willow, as she stood up from the chair, while still holding Buffy in her arms, "It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that I am aware of what trouble the three of you can get up to once you put your collective minds together."

The four young women then took their leave of the senior mages, before heading to the baths and then to their room for the evening. Watching the women leave the two older mages marvelled at the resilience of youth, and its attitude that there could be a solution to every problem.

Grael turned to Amana and said softly, "I'm now convinced, more than ever before, that she will find an answer." He stood up and stretched his tired muscles before continuing, "the support she is getting from not only Buffy but also the other two has gone a long way to giving me that confidence. Not to mention the maturity and confidence that she displayed here today."

"I agree, but only if she has the time," replied Amana cryptically, as she also stood up and banked the fire before the two of them headed out to see if they could find some people for some non-magical conversation and companionship.

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An hour or so later four, now very clean, women were in their room, each wrapped in a large towel, engaged in casual banter. The room was very comfortable, with a large cheery fire roaring in the fireplace. It was doing a wonderful job of heating the room, it would only be later, after the fire died down and was banked for the evening that the temperature in the room would begin to fall. The excitement of the upcoming wedding between two of their number was creating a playful mood in them all. This humour had manifested itself in the bath, where the four of them had spent more time trying to dunk each other and in other water play, rather than getting themselves clean.

"That's like totally not fair," complained Willow, to the other three, as she stood in the middle of the room with her head bent over to the side her long hair reaching to mid-calf, "I'm never going to get the water out of my ears."

"What's not fair," asked Buffy, sitting cross-legged on the bed drying her hair, attempting and failing miserably to act innocent.

"The three of you ganging up on me there at the end," replied Willow, shaking her head as she continued to try to get the water out of her ears.

"Only after you used your magic to create that wall of water," said Bridie, who was standing with Aiofe before the fireplace soaking up the heat pouring from it, "you knew that we wouldn't be able to stop it."

"Who was it that was sending little bolts of water at the others," retorted Willow, "and don't try to claim it was Aiofe or Buffy, I know they don't have any control over water, and that you do."

"Ok," said Buffy, as she stood up from the bed, "we were all guilty. Now can we make it up to you?"

"I suppose," grumbled Willow, "how?"

"Trust me," replied her lover as she pulled out from the dresser an opaque silk scarf, "first let me blindfold you."

Buffy proceeded to blindfold Willow before guiding her to the bed. Once Willow was comfortable on the bed, Buffy striped away her towel, leaving the arch-mage naked. After extinguishing all of the lights in the room with the exception of the fire she and the other two women then took up positions on the bed around their friend; Buffy between Willow's legs, Aiofe and Bridie on either side of Willow.

"What are you doing," asked Willow.

"Shush, lover," replied Buffy, "just try to stay still and let us make you happy. Oh, try not to peek through my eyes either."

With that Buffy, Aiofe and Bridie began to simultaneously stroke Willow's arms and legs using only the tips of their fingers. It had an immediate result. Where they trailed their fingers the hairs on Willow's skin immediately became erect, where they had not yet caressed, goose bumps appeared. Willow, who had been holding her breath in expectation of what was going to happen, exhaled softly, almost in a moan. More was to come. Buffy gestured to Aiofe to pass over the pitcher of water. She then carefully began to pour, almost dribble, the water over Willow's stomach, watching as it traced over the curve of her pregnancy, then leaning over to catch the driblets of water with her tongue, before they could hit the bed.

Willow was consumed by the sensations being caused in her body by her friends. She was behaving herself and not peeking through Buffy's eyes, so the anticipation of what body part would be attended to next was causing her to squirm and moan. She began to lick her lips, and as her excitement progressed her nipples hardened, as she eagerly waited for the next sensation. Seeing this Aiofe gestured to Bridie who immediately leaned forward and presented a nipple for Willow to suckle. Willow swiftly drew in all of the presented nipple and areole, and began to suck and nibble as if she were a newborn babe. Aiofe then reciprocated, by first licking and then sucking on Willow's rock-hard nipples. While sucking on one, she manually manipulated the other, before having her nimble fingers replaced by Bridie. This stimulation, in time, caused a small amount of foremilk to appear, which both women lapped up, treating it like ambrosia. The production of albeit even a small amount of milk, followed by the suckling of her breasts, caused a surge of excitement to course through Willow's body, which manifested itself in the immediate lubrication of the cleft between her legs. Sensing the sexual enhancement of her lover's anticipation, Buffy began the next phase of her pleasuring.

Willow was amazed at the reactions her body was producing. She was aware of the pleasure being given by her nipples being suckled; the continual tracing of fingertips, water and tongues on her skin, and her increasing sexual anticipation. As Willow continued to suckle on the offered breast, Buffy began to softly blow on her engorged clit. Once she was certain that she had all of Willow's attention, Buffy began to drip water from her fingertips directly onto the tip of her lover's clitoris, followed by her blowing onto the drop of water to evaporate it. This was a new form of water torture, torture by pleasure. Buffy timed every drop carefully, insuring that Willow came near to a climax, but that she didn't crossover. As the sweat began to pour from her body, Willow moaned, bucked and squirmed in an attempt to climax. All of her efforts to find release ended in failure due to Buffy's excellent knowledge of her lover's body. Finally, after Buffy had judged that Willow was more than ready, she leaned forward and simultaneously sucked on Willow's clitoris while she inserted two fingers deep within her lover's vagina to stimulate the sensitive internal tissue. Willow exploded in what became a cascade of orgasms, one peak higher than the last, as all three women continued to stimulate and pleasure various parts of her body.

Finally, Buffy and the others first slowed, and then ceased, their attention to Willow's pleasure. Willow lay in a pool of sweat and sexual fluids, panting softly for nearly ten minutes before she gathered her wits together and softly said, "You're all forgiven."

$Happy love?$

$Beyond happy. I love you. Goddess you do know how to trip my breakers.$

That thought chased around in Willow's head, she knew that it had triggered some sort of recognition, but was too thoroughly satiated to pin it down, "oh well," she thought, "whatever it was will come back to me eventually."

All four women then began an evening of mutual pleasure, using all of their creativity to try to find new ways of stimulating each other. Late in the evening, as they all lay in a tangle of limbs under the covers of their bed, Willow turned to Aiofe and Bridie and said, "I am so happy that we found you two."

"I'm glad," replied Bridie, "and I must admit that it's been our pleasure also."

"Obviously," quipped Buffy, "if the last three hours wasn't pleasure, I think that I'd die experiencing it."

"You know what she meant," said Willow as she stuck Buffy with a pillow, "quit being so obtuse."

"Obtuse," replied Buffy as she replied with a pillow of her own, "thems fighting words woman."

Buffy and Willow immediately began a pillow-fight, and as errant strikes began to hit Aiofe and Bridie they also joined into the fight. After twenty minutes or so, with pillows and covers scattered throughout the room, exhaustion set in and the four women ceased their battle, remade the bed and snuggled in before resuming their conversation.

"Now," said Willow, "before we were interrupted, I think that I was appreciating the friendship that we have formed with both of you."

"We too have come to see you and Buffy as close friends also," replied Bridie.

$Lover, what's this leading to?$

$Buff, we need to think of something to give them as bridesmaid's gifts.$

$Ask them. If what they want is possible, we'll get it. We owe them that much.$

"Ladies," continued Willow, "on our world it's traditional for a bride, or in our case the brides, to give a gift to their maid of honour, or in our case maids. So, since neither Buffy nor I have a clue what to get you, we have decided to let you choose something, and if it's in our power to do so we will give it to you."

"This is new to us," replied Aiofe, "but will you allow us some time to think it over and let you know?"

"Of course," said Buffy, "take all the time you need. Just let us know before the hand-fasting."

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The next three days flew by, as everyone became involved in preparations for the upcoming nuptials. Amana and Grael worked with Aiofe and Bridie in making sure that everything was ready for the ceremony. Frankel worked with Sonya and the other new arrivals to clean the common room of the inn, which would be used for both the ceremony and the feast, which would follow. Daithi and the guardsmen spent their time cleaning and polishing their arms and armour; Buffy had asked them to be guards of honour for the wedding, a job that Daithi had immediately accepted.

At last, the day arrived. Buffy woke with a start, with more than an hour to go before the dawn broke over the mountains. This was far earlier than she usually awoke and it took a moment for her to register the reason why. There was a warm empty space beside her, a space that would normally have been occupied by Willow. Moving quietly, to not disturb the other women, Buffy left the warmth of the bed and wrapped herself against the pre-dawn cold in a thick dressing robe.

As she was leaving their room thinking to herself, "I wonder where she has gotten herself to," she wasn't that surprised to receive an answer.

$I'm in the kitchen.$

$Morning love, what are you up to?$

$Morning Buff. Just sitting and talking with Lynda, and getting some bread, cheese and small-cider.$

Lynda was one of the three village women who had been hired by Willow to cook for her strike force. She was a wizened older woman who had seen and weathered much hardship in her life and was a steady source of country wit and wisdom.

$What are you doing up at this hour?$

$Couldn't sleep, so I decided to get up and watch the dawn. Care to join me?$

$Love to, just let me get dressed. See you in ten or so.$

Just under ten minutes later Buffy joined her lover in the kitchen. Both young women had dressed in thick woollen pants with a heavy down jacket, more than adequate defence against the cold pre-dawn temperatures. Buffy went up to Willow, who was sitting at the kitchen table and reached around to give her a good morning hug and kiss.

"Worried," she asked as she slid into the chair next to Willow, "it is the big day."

"Not worried," replied the arch-mage, "after all, I don't think you are going to leave me at the altar or anything like that. I think I just needed some time to collect myself before chaos settled in around here for the rest of the day."

In fact, it looked like a small amount of chaos had already descended on the inn. Lynda and the other cooks, in addition to four other women who had been drafted into assistance for the day, had all been hard at work for several hours. They had been baking mountains of breads, cakes and pastries for the festivities. Later they would begin on the preparation of the equally large amounts of vegetables and main dishes which would be needed to feed the entire village, at one point in the day they would be joined by Amana who would be responsible for the final, and secret, seasonings of the head table dishes.

"Till be a grand day Sara," said Lynda to one of the other cooks as she took another batch of bread out of the baking ovens, "I still remember the anticipation I felt before my wedding day."

"How, you old goat," replied the other woman good-naturedly, "you can't remember that far back."

"I remember better than you, you old biddy," retorted Lynda, "you don't even remember the name of your first husband now do you?"

Willow and Buffy gathered their breakfast and took their leave as the two cooks continued their usual teasing, which had been a constant presence in the kitchen since they'd started, and according to other locals had been going on for years.

The two young women headed out of the inn and climbed a short distance above the inn to a place that they had found a few weeks earlier and had made their own. It was a sheltered copse of woods, with a large flat outcropping of stone. It looked down on the inn and the village and offered an unobstructed view of the eastern slopes of the valley. They sat on the ground, wrapped themselves in a blanket that they had brought with them, and ate their breakfast looking out at the crystal clear pre-dawn sky, filled with stars.

"Everything will be ok," offered Buffy as reassurance, "I'm positive that Amana will have thought of everything."

"I know," replied Willow, "It's just that I've been thinking."

"Yes?"

"It's just that I sometimes wonder if I am the right person for all of this."

"All of what?"

"You, my magic, you, this leadership thing, you, the baby, you, the responsibility, you, the power that I can wield in my hands, you, the job I've taken on, you, my family - who must be worried sick by now, you, what the Goddess has planned for us, you, this relationship we have developed with Aiofe and Bridie, you."

"I admit," replied Buffy after a moment's pause, "that I too have been worried about some of that, particularly about our friends and family, but I couldn't think of any two people better suited, or able to handle it. Once we get home, we can worry about the family thing. They'll be so happy to see us they just might overlook the marriage and babies. Now fess-up, what has led you to this train of thought on what is supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life?"

"Well, for one thing, I've been told that you are supposed to reflect on your life on your wedding day."

"And?"

"And, they told me what they would like as gifts."

"When?"

"Last night, after you had collapsed asleep, we got to talking."

"And?"

"They would like me to make them pregnant, with each other's baby."

"What!" Said Buffy as she turned to look at her lover, incredulity written on her face.

"You heard me, they want to have children and they asked me to do the deed so to speak."

"What did you tell them?"

"That I'd think it over and talk to you before answering."

"That'll teach me to fall asleep after great sex," said Buffy who after a moment of thought then continued, "Can you even do something like that?"

"Oh yes," replied Willow softly, "I can."

"Oh!"

The dawn began to break over the mountains. Both women turned to the east and sat hand-in-hand in quiet reflection as the blue-black of the pre-dawn sky was first pierced with streaks of pink, then reds before giving way to a mix of pastels as the stars slowly dissolved in the eastern sky. The first rays of the sun then began to creep over the mountain, casting long shadows down into the valley and the village. They watched as the crest of the sun peeked over the mountains the sky exploded in a mix of blues, yellows and reds as a new day was born.

"Wow," said Buffy softly, "that never ceases to amaze me."

"It is a wonder," agreed Willow, "now what do we do?"

"I don't have to think this one over," replied Buffy, "we owe them, and I know that you are ok with it so, as you no doubt already knew, we do it. One thing though."

"Yes?"

"If I can, I want to help."

"I was going to ask anyway," replied Willow with tears beginning to run down her face, who then turned to her lover and embraced her in a bone-crushing hug.

"You were afraid I'd say no."

"No," said Willow, "I knew you'd agree, but I didn't know if you were willing to help."

"I admit that it is a little freaky," replied the slayer, "but, where you go, I go."

"Yes Ruth," replied Willow with a small laugh.

"You are really happy about this," said Buffy as she delicately kissed the tears away from Willow, "I think I understand but why?"

"It allows me to do something powerful with my gift," replied Willow, "that isn't destructive."

"I love you," was the only reply that Buffy could make, as she reciprocated Willow's hug.

Both young women then noticed that they had been found, for coming up to their seating area were Aiofe and Bridie, determination written large on their faces.

"Oops," said Buffy stifling a giggle as she stood up, brushing some dirt from her pants, "I think our masters for the day have found us, and have come to scold us."

"Yep," replied Willow as she too stood up, "I can't understand how it's supposed to be our day, when everything we do is organized by others."

"You two have been very naughty," said Aiofe as way of a greeting when she and Bridie reached the copse of woods, "we've been looking for you everywhere."

"Good morning ladies," replied Willow, "and how, pray tell, did you know where to find us?"

"Lynda finally told us about this place," Replied Bridie, "after, in her words, you had had enough time to see the dawn."

"Apparently," added Aiofe, "this has been a popular spot with the villagers for a long time."

"Well," said Buffy, "our secret is out, and we willing put ourselves in your hands for the remainder of the day."

"Why thank-you," replied Aiofe, "we barely have enough time now as it is."

"Lead on," said Willow.

As the four women headed down to the inn, Buffy turned to Aiofe and Bridie and softly said, "Oh, by the way, yes we would be more than happy to help the two of you."

Aiofe and Bridie stopped in their tracks and immediately, and profusely, began to thank Willow and Buffy. They had wanted this for a long time, even before they had been hand-fasted two years previously, but had known that it would never be possible. Then, almost as if a gift from the Goddess, Willow and Buffy arrived, and what had been impossible had now become possible.

"Thank-you," said Aiofe, for what had to be the twentieth time, as she and Bridie continued to hug both Willow and Buffy, "we could never thank you enough."

"You're more than welcome," replied Willow, "I can only hope that you and yours will have a long, long life."

Hand-in-hand the four women then continued down to the inn to commence preparations for the hand-fasting later that evening.

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First Buffy and Willow were taken to the baths, where they received a long sensual bath with special herbs and oils in the water. Aiofe and Bridie also used soap which had had herbs infused into it during its making. After the bath, both brides were treated to a long luxurious massage, which also made use of a selection of oils, which Amana had provided. After the massage, both young women then had their hair washed and once it had been towelled dry, fresh mountain flowers were woven into their marriage braids.

By now it was lunchtime, which Amana had arranged for the four women to have in the private dinning room that she and Buffy had recently cleaned. It was a light lunch, with a clear soup followed by a simple roast chicken salad.

Aiofe commented, "don't want your butterflies to upset your stomach now, do we."

In fact, both Aiofe and Bridie were also beginning to feel anxious about the upcoming events of the day. They would all have a significant amount of work to do once the ceremony started. Once it was over, they would have even more work to do before they could call it a night.

The afternoon passed with Buffy and Willow secluded in a solitary vigil, each spending the time thinking about themselves, their love and the seriousness of the ceremony to come. In the tradition that they would be wed in, and given the type of hand-fasting that they were going to do, their bonding before the Gods would be forever; even though they both knew that they were making the right decision, this time apart allowed them to focus, and to confirm in their own mind that choice, before they had to do it before their community. During the vigil, they wore the plain white robes in which they would start the ritual.

Finally, it was an hour past sunset, and an hour to moon rise, time for the ceremony to begin. All of the furniture in the common room had been stacked against the walls, leaving a space more than adequate for the ceremony and the guests. The room had been decorated with countless flowers. Candles and the fireplaces provided the heat and illumination to the room. The working circle had already been laid out on the old oak floorboards, with the altar and the candle stands also in place. The room was already full with all of the guests, who were standing outside of the circle, surrounding it four deep.

Amana took one last look around the room and saw that everything was ready. She gestured to Daithi that she was ready for the ceremony to begin and then she and Grael walked to the centre of the circle, with their presence alone they caused the various conversations in the room to cease.

"We are gathered here in this time and this place," she began, "to witness the joining in the eyes of the Gods two people whose love for each other has brought them great joy and happiness."

As she spoke the ritual opening words Frankel, Sonya and the rest of the recent arrivals took their places in the circle.

Amana then continued, "The union of two people brings with it the hope for all and the hope for the triumph of love over hatred. Our law is that life is the practice of love unto humanity. Without love, life is worthless, without love, death has no rebirth. Love is anterior to life, posterior to Death, initial of Creation for it was with love that the Goddess created all. If we learn nothing in life except this, it is enough."

"Blessed be," responded all of the people in the circle and in the room.

Grael and Amana then began the ritual proper, with the casting of the circle. Amana beginning the litany with, "We cast this circle of ancient lore;" as she continued the opening prayer she was followed by Grael casting the elements, and Sonya who slew flower petals as a symbol of the nuptials.

Once the circle had been cast, Amana and Grael grounded themselves before drawing up the power they would need for the remainder of the evening. Once they were satisfied, they called forth the quarters, paying special attention to the East and South, the patron quarters for Buffy and Willow. It was then time for the entrance of Willow and Buffy.

Grael cut a gate in the circle and then called out, "guards, if it is their will, pray bring forth the vessels of love so that we may join them for all time in the eyes of the Goddess."

Daithi then led his fellow guardsmen into the room, followed by Aiofe, Bridie, Willow and Buffy. As they approached the circle, the guardsmen split up, with each taking up a position at the quarters. The four women remained before the gate, with Aiofe and Bridie standing behind Buffy and Willow.

Once the guards of honour had reached their positions, Grael turned to Buffy and Willow and asked, "Is it your true desire to walk this path together?"

Both women answered, "it is."

"Then enter and let us celebrate the joining of your love and lives."

After the four young women took up their places before the alter, in the direct centre of the circle, Amana then started the ritual by saying the invocation to the Goddess starting with the words, "Mother Goddess, we seek you presence before us today as we join your servants in a bond that seeks to glorify your gift of love."

Amana continued, asking for the assistance of the Goddess in providing for Buffy and Willow, and petitioning her blessing on the union.

Once the invocation had been completed, Grael brought forth his wand on which the rings were placed. As Grael and Amana each held one end of the wand, Grael said, "Gods who surround us at all time, we use these rings as symbols to show the bond that these two women will share, a bond with no beginning and no end."

He then addressed Buffy and Willow directly by saying, "place these rings on each other's fingers, to signify your new status as partners and revel in your new found unity."

Grael was using the traditional litany for the hand-fasting of mages, he knew that Willow and Buffy were already joined by bonds which were deeper and stronger than those of marriage, however, since the vast majority of those present in the room were ignorant of the link between the two women, this ceremony would provide the reassurance that they, the community, needed. As Willow and Buffy placed the rings on each other's fingers there was a brief flash of intense light around the rings, it appeared that the Goddess was indeed taking personal attention to this particular union. When the light subsided, somehow both Willow and Buffy realized that they would now never be able to remove the rings.

Grael then began the next part of the ritual by saying, "who is it that brings these women to be joined?"

"We do," replied Aiofe and Bridie.

"Do you come as witnesses to their vows, and pledge to assist them in the fulfilment of them?"

"We do."

He then turned to all of the guests and said, "Know now that we are to join these women in marriage. Is there any reason for this union to not occur?"

He waited a few moments before continuing, "know that this union has been proposed and is unopposed by the community. From this day forth let no man or woman question this union, or disparage it. They would only bring shame upon themselves for doing so, and would dishonour the Gods by their words and actions."

"Blessed be," responded all of the people in the circle and in the room.

Amana then provided the instructions to the newly wed. She raised her hands above the brides and said, "Above you are the stars, below you the stones, as time passes remember that like a stone your love should be firm, and likewise like the stars you love be constant. Let your great intellect and the link of your minds help and guide you in your partnership. Let the power of your bodies and the strength of your will, bind you together and keep the passion of your love ever strong and ever burning. Make the troubles you incur and the happiness you find be the glue that keeps you inseparable. May the children you share be a source of joy and proof of your love for each other and for humanity. Be patient with yourself, with each other and with your children, for disagreements will occur, but if you remember this day, and your love for each other, they will pass by quickly, and will help deepen your understanding for each other. Be affectionate, in public and in private. Do not fear the ignorant, for remember that this union has been sanctified by the Gods, and they are the only judges of you and yours. Remember your friends, forget those who have wished you ill, it is only through forgiveness and love that you will find true happiness and eventual rebirth on the great wheel of life."

Grael took the cup, which had been filled with a strong red wine, and after sipping from it passed it to Willow saying, "take this, the fruit of the earth, and drink from it. May it foretell the bounty of your bodies, and the strength of that fruit."

Grael was once again continuing the standard ritual, for it was more than obvious to everyone in the room that both Willow and Buffy's bodies were more than 'fruitful', after all they were now over twenty-one weeks pregnant, and definitely beginning to show.

Both Willow and Buffy inwardly chuckled as they sipped from the cup, both realizing that in this case, the form of the ritual was more important than the substance. Once they had passed back the cup, Aiofe and Bridie went up to them and removed their robes, leaving them naked in front of the altar. Aiofe and Bridie then bound Willow and Buffy's hands together.

The couple then raised their joined arms above their heads and began their prayer of binding by staring into each other's eyes while saying, "You cannot possess me, for I belong to myself. However, since we have declared that we both wish it, so I give to you all that is mine to give. You cannot command me for I am a free person, but it is my desire to serve you for all my days. The nectar and honey, will taste sweeter as it comes from my hand to your lips. I pledge to you that yours will be the name I cry aloud in the night, the eyes and mind into which I smile in the morning. I pledge to you the first bite from my plate and the first sip from my cup. I pledge to you my body and my soul in living and in dying, each equally in your care. I shall shield your back from all harm as you shield me. I shall not slander you, nor you me. I honour you above all save the Gods, and when we quarrel, we shall do it away from the ears and eyes of others. We shall not tell strangers our troubles or our grievances, but work together with each other and those who care most for us to solve our differences. Those we take into our hearts we will do so jointly and willingly without rancour or regrets. This is my vow to you, before these witnesses who share our love and hearts, before these guests and most importantly before our Gods. I make this vow as I came into the world, with nothing to shield me from the elements, and with nothing that can hide any deception. This union that we undertake is the joining of equals, it is the Alpha and Omega, and it is done in the full knowledge that our joining will be for all time, and will transcend even our deaths on this the mortal plane." As they finished their vows they lowered their hands, and clasped them together.

Buffy and Willow had worked long into the previous night on the wording of their vow. They knew it was their declaration before the altar and the Gods, and wanted to insure that they put into words the depth of their love for each other. They had also composed the response, which Amana would say, that would consecrate the union.

Amana stood before the alter then turned to face Buffy and Willow before beginning the sanctification with the words, "these promises have been made by you in the presence of the sun and the moon, by fire and by water, by day and by night, by land and by sea. With these vows you have promised to yourselves and to the God and Goddess that neither will command the other; that neither will possess the other. You will be partners in all you thoughts, deeds and duties. If one drops the load, the other will pick it up. If one shames the other, her own honour will be forfeit, for untold generations, until she repairs what was damaged, and finds that which was lost. If you fail to keep these oaths which you have taken today, the elements will rise up, seek you out, and destroy you."

Amana turned to Aiofe and Bridie, and said, "You who have been called to witness these vows have you done so with honesty and love in your breasts?"

"We have," replied both women.

"As witnesses to this union it may become your duty to assist this couple in living up to their vows. Do you undertake this task willingly?"

"We do."

"Then recite your vows, and become true witnesses before the Gods."

Aiofe and Bridie then turned and took up positions, one to either side of Buffy and Willow, and facing each other, orienting themselves so that all four of them were lined up with the quarters.

They then said together, "Buffy, Willow, I have agreed with love in my heart to witness your union of love. I pledge to bare true witness to any and all to the strength of your vows. I pledge to help and assist you so that you are able to fulfil your vows, if you should ever need that help. I accept this burden joyfully since it is a burden of love. I accept this duty willingly since it is a true symbol of trust. And I will do all that I can to live up to this trust that you have placed in my hands."

Grael then began the final litany to the couple, "Willow, Buffy, you have vowed to consider each other to be your partner in all things, for all time. I ask you one final time is this your true and faithful wish?"

"It is," replied both young women.

"Blessed be," responded all of the people in the circle and in the room.

Grael then took his dagger and cut the cords that bound Buffy and Willow's hands. Then he took each woman's right hand and carefully made a cut across her palm.

Once he was certain that the wounds were bleeding he looked up at both of them saying, "the vows you made will now be bound forever by the mingling of your blood."

Grael then had Willow and Buffy clasp their right hands together; he then clasped both of his hands around theirs saying, "I now seal your wounds, and with that seal you vows and declare you one before the Gods and your community." He concentrated and used a small amount of heat to sear the wounds, leaving a small pale scar.

"Blessed be," responded all of the people in the circle and in the room.

"I love you," whispered both women as they leaned forward to kiss their spouse, to the cheers and congratulations of everyone in the room.

Aiofe and Bridie then came forward and handed the newlyweds new robes of pure white silk, trimmed with blue, red and gold knot work. Willow wrapped a pure white cord three times around her body before tying it, while Buffy wrapped a silver and grey cord once. As they were dressing, Amana and Grael once again gathered up the power that they had raised, in preparation for the closing of the ritual. They thanked the quarters, and then dismissed them. They thanked the God and Goddess, and asked them to continue to look out for the newlyweds, and the community that they had joined. They then released the power that they had raised before they broke the circle, ending the ritual, and beginning the party.

And party they did. The tables were once again set up in the common room while Lynda, and the other kitchen staff, began to bring out platters laden with food. The bar was opened and ale, wine and cider began to flow merrily. Aiofe and Bridie were responsible for the organization and running of the party, and had stationed themselves behind the bar in an effort to maintain some semblance of control. Everyone knew that the party was going to degenerate into a wild time for all; it was their job to make sure that everyone enjoyed the trip.

Once everyone was seated, the feasting began. Fish, fowl and beef were all served with breads, pastas and boiled grains. Puddings and stews were offered, along with salads and jellies. Everything was wonderful and several animated conversations were conducted simultaneously. It was an ideal forum for bonding the villagers to Willow's strike force. At the head table Buffy and Willow sat with Frankel, Grael and Amana; there were also places for Aiofe and Bridie, however neither woman was able to remain in them for very long.

Then the dancing began, everyone danced with everyone else until the entire community nearly dropped from exhaustion. Once everyone had burned off their excess energy, they all resumed their seats while the cooks brought out the cake, and pitchers of mulled cider. Buffy and Willow then called their bridesmaids over, to sit beside them, as the gifting began. Each family took their turn to come up to the happy couple, congratulate them and offer them a small handmade token. The newlyweds received items such as preserves, shawls, sweaters and other handicrafts. Buffy and Willow took the time to greet each family, and to find out more about who they were, what they did and what their reactions to the war were.

Finally, Amana and Grael came up to the happy couple. They embraced after which Amana said, "ladies, I don't have a craft for you. However, we have noticed that the two of you have been coping with a lot over the last few weeks, so I have arranged for the two of you to have a little getaway. I've found a small cottage at the north end of the valley, about six kilometres away, and have arranged for the two of you to stay there for the next three weeks. It will give you some time to unwind and recharge before winter, and let you catch up on your rest, which as your midwife I know you need."

Buffy and Willow were both stunned by the thoughtfulness of the gift. They would be able to take a true honeymoon, and spend some time to put into context all of what had been happening.

Willow summed up the feelings of both of them by replying with a simple, "thank-you, for everything."

It was now well after midnight and the party was beginning to wind down. Willow, Buffy, Aiofe and Bridie took their leave and headed up to their rooms to try to get some sleep, Amana had indicated that the two newlyweds would be heading to their honeymoon cottage in the morning.

$Are you up for a little work,$ Willow asked as they approached the door to their room.

$Depends.$

$I think that we should give our gift to our helpers, they're ovulating and I need that to help me. If we don't it tonight it'll be four weeks before we can, and who knows what is going to be happening then.$

$Sounds good. Do you have the energy you need?$

$I think so, if not I'll just draw from you.$

Willow turned to their friends and said, "I don't think any of us want to wait three weeks or more. If you still desire it, we will give to you our gift tonight."

Aiofe and Bridie turned and looked at each other, both with relief written on their faces. They had hoped that they would receive their gift, but were not willing to ask knowing how tired Buffy and Willow would be. Now their desires, dreams and hopes would be answered.

"Oh yes," they both said together, "we still desire it, and thank you. Are you sure it won't be too tiring?"

"No problemo," answered the arch-mage, "I've got three weeks to catch up on my sleep."

The three women entered their room noticing that some thoughtful soul had built up the fire in addition to providing several pitchers of water along with clean glasses.

"Ah," said Buffy, "that's so nice of whoever."

"I agree," said Bridie, "I never even thought about it."

"Now ladies," said Willow, "I need you in your birthday suits and on the bed."

"Yes boss," replied Aiofe with a giggle as she and Bridie rapidly shed their clothing.

"Now," continued Willow once Aiofe and Bridie had settled on the bed, "Buff, you stand on the far side of the bed; ladies you hold hands and let's get this on."

Willow took up a position across from Buffy, $now lover, I need you to hold my hand, and put your other hand on Aiofe's belly, just below her bellybutton.$

Buffy did as instructed, meanwhile Willow looked deep within both women searching for their fallopian tubes. "This is way too weird," she thought to herself, "maybe I should take up anatomy, I'd be certain to get an A."

She found what she was searching for, the egg cell which was accompanied by its usual collection of nurse cells. $Buff, do you see this?$

$Yep, now what?$

$Now we create a small pocket around each egg, make sure that you include some of the fluid surrounding them.$

Both women then worked together, first to isolate the cells, then to create pure sterile water in a glass. Willow then transferred the eggs to the pure water, keeping track of them at all time. Using her knowledge of biology and her skill as a mage she then forced the two egg cells together, and started the process of mitosis thinking, "genes are genes, now let's get this dance going."

Willow watched carefully as the two groups of chromosomes fused together to form the zygote, then as that one cell divided several times, finally, after three hours, and with little time left in the night, she carefully split the zygote, to create two identical bundles of eggs, which would, in approximately two hundred and sixty days, turn into a set of identical twin girls.

Waking Buffy, Aiofe and Bridie who had all fallen asleep hours earlier, she then worked with her lover to transfer a zygote back to the fallopian tubes of each woman, to reunite it with its nurse cells for the journey to the uterus and eventual implantation.

"That's it," said Willow as she completed her task, "congratulations."

Bridie summed up the feelings of both her and Aiofe by embracing Willow and whispering, "Thank-you."

"You're welcome," replied the arch-mage, "now, if the three of you don't mind, I'm going to collapse. Buff, you can carry me to the cottage since I don't think I'm going to wake for hours."

In fact, all four women collapsed in sleep. Later that morning, three hours after dawn, the door to their room was gently opened and Amana looked around the edge of it. Seeing the four still forms on the bed she thought to herself, "let them sleep, we can always send them up to the cottage tomorrow." Closing the door, she returned to the common room to let Grael and Daithi know that they wouldn't be taking the newlyweds anywhere that day.

----------------------------------

Not far to the north of the village, about twenty-five kilometres away, a demon army was surrounding a small hamlet, in preparation for an attack that would happen at dusk.

Looking over the disposition of the troops in his command, the quasi-human Hugh thought to himself, "Finally Junulak has agreed to get some information by force, rather than by stealth. Hopefully by tomorrow we will have the answers we need."

Even farther away, in his stronghold, the demon lord was taking stock in the progress of the war to date. Sitting in his personal study, he reviewed several battle reports, making careful notations on a map of the area that occupied a large table in the centre of the room. It was a duplicate, in a smaller scale, of the map on the wall of the command room and he used it to work out plans before he presented them to either his superiors or to his generals. He frowned as he looked at one symbol on the map, which represented Junulak and his small force of demons. "I've got to resolve that issue, soon," he thought to himself, rubbing his talon tipped hands together as he did so. "I don't know how much longer I can keep the existence of a slayer secret from the command staff.

Turning to his desk and sitting down he continued his thoughts, "I'll give Junulak one more month. If he doesn't show any results by then I'll eliminate him and his entire force along with anything or anyone else who knows about the slayer."

A/N – thanks again for all of your reviews.


	11. Gaudeamus Igitur, Iuvenes Dum Sumus

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter XI - Gaudeamus Igitur, Iuvenes Dum Sumus

(Let us therefore rejoice, while we are young)

Buffy sighed deeply. The afternoon sun was, for once this summer, very warm and she had taken advantage of the good weather by lying on a blanket, stark naked, eyes closed, soaking up the rays.

"Got to get working on my tan," she thought to herself, "I'm beginning to look like an alabaster sculpture."

"A pregnant sculpture at that," added Willow, as she came out of the cottage carrying a tray with a pitcher of ice-tea along with two glasses.

$Reading my mind again?$

$Yep, forgive me?$

$Always.$

Willow suddenly had an impish thought. Leaning over her lover, she began to dribble the ice-tea over Buffy's expanding abdomen.

Buffy squealed in surprise as the cold liquid touched her heated skin. "Red, you're a witch!"

"Guilty as charged," replied Willow, as she placed the tray on the ground before joining Buffy on the blanket, "I'm so happy I just couldn't resist."

"If you are so happy then pour me a drink," said Buffy as she sat up, slowly, "Umph, this is getting to be a bit more difficult."

"I know," replied Willow, as she poured each of them a glass of tea, before lying back, resting her glass on her belly and saying, "I look like a beached whale."

Buffy leaned over and lightly kissed Willow's tummy before replying, "A beautiful beached whale."

Both women were now into their twenty-fourth week of pregnancy, and thanks to a combination of good diet and a daily exercise routine were feeling very comfortable at this stage of their gravidity. Amana had told them, that once they hit the third trimester, in two or three weeks, they would begin to feel more uncomfortable as their babies grew and began to run out of room.

"I'm not beautiful," replied the arch-mage, "I'm bloated."

"Not true. I happen to think that you are the most beautiful preggo, this side of the mountain."

"Aside from you," retorted Willow, "I'm the only preggo this side of the mountain, so that's not saying much, now is it."

"Well, I happen to think you're beautiful. Besides, you're forgetting Aiofe and Bridie."

"Then I thank-you for your astute observational sense," replied Willow, as she drew down her lover for another kiss, "I happen to think that you are quite radiant yourself. And they don't really count yet since they are not even a month along."

"It's unanimous then," replied the slayer, "we're both beautiful, since we both think that way, and, after all, our opinions are the only ones that counts."

Both women returned to their sunbathing, enjoying their rest in the relaxing sunshine. The sun, along with the fact that there was absolutely nothing that they had to do before getting their dinner ready, put the two of them into a peaceful frame of mind.

"I'm going to miss this," said Buffy.

"So am I," replied her lover, "one more week, then back to the millstone."

They were thoroughly enjoying their honeymoon. They had had the opportunity to sleep, relax and enjoy each other's company, without any pressures on their time. This had resulted in their being totally comfortable and relaxed for the first time since they had arrived on this world, perhaps since even earlier.

"The twins are certainly happy with the sun," commented Buffy, as she felt her baby moving once again, "or maybe it's just because we are so relaxed."

"Whatever," replied Willow, "I'm just glad we finally recognized the movement for what it was, I was beginning to worry a little bit."

Both women had begun to feel their babies' movement shortly after starting their honeymoon. They had gone through a period of alerting each other as soon as they felt the movement, only to notice that both babies seemed to be moving at the same time. They attributed this particular oddity to just one more eccentric thing about their pregnancies.

"This 'gift' of Amana's was perfect," commented Buffy, as she watched puffy white clouds drift lazily across the sky.

"No kidding," replied Willow, "I've not felt this relaxed in a long time. Besides our little hideaway here is just perfect."

The cottage that Amana had arranged for them was a sheepherder's summer cottage, temporarily vacated for the occasion, which had been built more than eighty years earlier. It was located to the north of the village, and was near the high summer pastures that the villagers used for their sheep. A small stream ran on the far side of the dooryard, about thirty meters away, providing a source of fresh, cold, clean water. It had a large vegetable garden, which provided fresh herbs and produce, along with several ornamental gardens, providing homes for the countless butterflies and songbirds. The house itself had three-foot thick masonry walls, covered in climbing ivy, and a slate roof; these were more than capable of keeping out the rain, sleet and the cold. This was fortunate, since the weather had been miserable for the last two weeks, with rain and sleet heralding the imminent end of the short summer season in the high mountains. Not that the newlyweds had really noticed the weather, having spent a good portion of their time in the cottage, in bed.

The cottage only had three rooms; a very large and comfortable bedroom, an equally large bathroom and an enormous common room that functioned as kitchen, dining room, living room and study. Each room had several large windows, providing the primary source of light. In addition, there was a fireplace in each room, which provided heat and a secondary source of illumination. Their honeymoon home was also fully furnished; with furnishings that were both comfortable and practical.

In order to keep them in provisions, every couple of days Aiofe and Bridie had visited to deliver fresh food, in addition to keeping them apprised of any pressing news back in the village. Luckily, so far, there had been no problems that would require the attention of either the slayer or the arch-mage.

"Now doesn't that look too good for words," said Aiofe, as she and Bridie approached the two drowsy women on the ground, both of them carrying two bundles in addition to a backpack.

"I'm sure that if there were words," replied Willow dryly, "that you would be the one to find them."

"Now is that any way to speak to the people bringing your dinner," asked Bridie as the two new arrivals placed their bundles on the ground.

"What's all that," asked Buffy, noticing that there were six very large bundles on the ground, "I don't think that we could eat all of that in two days, pregnant or not."

"It's for the week," replied Aiofe.

"Come again," asked Willow, just a little confused and beginning to get a little worried.

"Not only that," added Bridie, "it's also for the four of us."

"What happened to aloneness," asked Buffy, also becoming a bit worried about this sudden change in plans.

"It's like this," replied Bridie, "Daithi received some troubling news yesterday, and Grael and Amana decided that it would be prudent if Aiofe and I resumed our bodyguard duties."

"Not that I mind the way that you two guard our bodies, but, spill the details," ordered Willow, changing from relaxed young woman to war leader in a heartbeat, "just what was the news?"

Aiofe and Bridie then related the news that had come into the village on the previous day. A small band of travellers had arrived with tales of a demon army that was working its way through the area, burning out the villages, and torturing, interrogating and massacring the inhabitants. The refugees had indicated that they were from a village no more than thirty kilometres away, and that the demons appeared to be looking for a small group of mages and warriors. Grael and Amana had immediately come to the conclusion that Willow's strike force was the group that the demons were looking for; it appeared that the army they had eluded months earlier had finally come closer to finding them.

"No more running," Willow said, the steel in her voice able to cut the tension that had sprung up, and, agreeing with Amana and Grael's assessment of the intentions of the demon army, continued, "whatever happens, we will not be driven out of this valley alive."

"I agree," added the slayer, "we've made a home here, besides we won't have time to find somewhere else before winter."

"Well then," said Bridie, "you'll be happy to know that everyone else agrees with you."

"Now," added Buffy, "just why are the two of you here, and why are we not all heading back to town?"

"Daithi and Grael have asked Aiofe and I to take a look around this area," replied Bridie, "and since there has been no real confirmation of the demon threat, Amana indicated that you two should stay here and continue to enjoy your honeymoon."

"We brought our camping stuff," added Aiofe, "so we will not be a bother to you. We'll just camp out here."

"Not on your life," retorted Willow, "you two will stay in the cottage with us. Furthermore, there is no way that you are going to stop me, let alone Buffy, from going along to help you look for these demons."

"But..." said Aiofe, "you are supposed to be on your vacation."

"No buts," replied Willow, the steel in her voice now reflected in her eyes.

"Well," replied Buffy, after a moments pause, "now that that is settled, lets see about getting you two settled in."

The four women proceeded to collect the various packages that were on the ground and went into the cottage to unpack. Once Aiofe and Bridie had unpacked, Willow noticed that the weather had turned for the worse. Thick black clouds had rolled in over the mountains, with a major summer storm threatening to break at any moment.

"Well there goes the nice weather," lamented Willow, looking out of the large windows in the common room, "summer was nice while it lasted."

"This sucks," agreed Buffy, "we get one nice day, and the sun only stays around for a couple of hours."

Suddenly the sky blackened even further as a tremendous electrical storm struck the valley. Massive chains of lightning lit the sky, followed by the rumble of thunder began to shake the mountains and the foundations of the cottage. The temperature plummeted with the arrival of the storm, where it had been in the high twenties it was now in the low teens and falling fast.

"This is nuts," commented Buffy, "I was nice and comfy, broiling in the sun, now I'm freezing." She left the common room, where they had been all watching the storm, and went to the bedroom to get dressed in warm clothing. Returning a few minutes later she saw that Willow was still standing at the window with the others, naked, transfixed by the storm.

"This is great," gushed Willow, "I just love these storms. Mother Nature at her most elemental."

"Well lover," responded Buffy, noticing that her lover was beginning to turn blue with cold, "if we don't get some warm clothes on you soon you are going to catch your death of cold."

"Party pooper," complained Willow, as Buffy picked her up and carried her back into the bedroom to get dressed. Meanwhile, Aiofe and Bridie took that as a sign and busied themselves by building up the fires, to bring the ambient temperature in the cottage back to something approaching normal.

After making the cottage a bit more comfortable, and doing what little tidying needed to be done, the four young women then set to making themselves a hearty stew for dinner. Since the weather precluded any further activities outdoors, after dinner they sat before the fire discussing life, and their plans for the next few days.

"So," asked Buffy, "what 'suggestions', did Daithi offer?"

"Well," replied Bridie, "both he and Grael suggested that we look to the north. Apparently there are some passes with small rivers in them which could allow an army an easy route to our little valley."

"They also indicated that there was another large valley to the north, that has a small hamlet in it," added Aiofe, "which could be used as a staging site for an army."

"How far away is this valley," asked Willow.

"About two days," replied Aiofe.

"I still don't like the idea of the two of you coming along," said Bridie, "its supposed to be your honeymoon, not work time."

"That's been settled," said the arch-mage, "we're going. Besides there is no confirmed threat, so it won't really be work, it's more like a road trip. Only on foot."

"What's more," added Buffy, "with the pregnancies and winter and all, its probably the last chance we'll get to see some of the surrounding area."

"Ok then, that's settled," said Willow. "I suggest that we head out tomorrow morning, check out the passes and then double back checking the other valley on the way."

"Take what," asked Buffy, "three, maybe four days."

"Way I figure it," agreed the arch-mage, "that way we could still have a couple days here to relax before heading back to the village, the inn and our real work of finding a permanent solution to this demon problem."

The four young women spent the evening in conversation, with the topics ranging from serious discussions on magic, slaying and the demon war to less weighty concerns about baby names and favourite foods.

"Chocolate, I'm dying for some chocolate," said Willow at one point, "I can't believe that no one on this world was able to figure out what to do with the cocoa plant and invent chocolate. Now it's too late, what with the crappy weather and this little demon problem we're having."

As if to highlight the weather problems, just then there was a massive flash of light right outside of the cottage, followed immediately by the crack of thunder.

"That was close," commented Aiofe.

"Too close," agreed Bridie, "I think that it was right outside of the door."

Willow's eyes glazed over for a moment after which she said, "Shadow-cat is very not-happy. She's right outside and wants to get in."

"I'll get it," said Buffy, as she stood up to go to the door. Once she had opened it, a black and grey streak shot into the room, heading for Willow and the fire. She stopped in front of the fireplace and began to shake the water out of her fur, in the process splattering everyone.

"Shadow-Cat," scolded Willow gently, "stop that."

"Merrow," replied the cat indignantly, after which she proceeded to curl up before the fire, grooming the remainder of the water out of her fur.

"That is one unhappy puddy tat," commented Buffy, "what's she thinking about?"

"Oh," replied Willow, with a little smile, "she is happier now, but I think that she's going to be sticking closer to home for the next little while. No more roaming the heath for her."

"What about when we head out to search the surrounding area," asked Aiofe, "what will you do about her?"

"She'll be fine here," answered Willow, "We'll leave a window open so she can get out and hunt. There is plenty of fresh water nearby. If we need to, she'll know where I am, so she can find us."

"Sounds good," said Buffy, "why don't we all head off to bed, so we can get an early start tomorrow."

The four young women headed off to the bedroom, leaving Willow's familiar alone before the fire. She continued to groom, eventually ridding herself of the water on, and in, her fir. Arching her back in a graceful stretch she thought, "Stay here, or go to my human."

Shadow-cat looked at the inviting fire, with the soft chair pulled up before it, and made her decision by leaping up onto the chair and preceded to curl up, purring, in the centre of the cushion thinking, "human mating is so messy. I'll wait till they fall asleep, and then take my rightful place on the bed."

Elsewhere in the cottage, the four young women were indeed demonstrating that human mating could be messy. Willow and Buffy had fallen upon the other two, like lions on a pair of wounded lambs, and had begun to thoroughly ravish their friends.

"Mmmmm," purred Buffy, as she slowly licked, and kissed, her way down Aiofe's back, "fresh flesh, gota love fresh flesh."

"I'd have to agree," commented Willow, as she proceeded to lightly trail her fingers up the inside of Bridie's leg, "its been two weeks since we've had a chance to sample these particular delicacies."

"Too long," agreed Buffy, who proceeded to gently pry Aiofe's legs apart, so that she could continue her trail of kisses, which were leading, inexorably, towards her centre.

"Damn, you are so good at this," whispered Aiofe huskily, as she tried to retain some composure.

"I know," replied the slayer, "practice does make one perfect you know."

$And just who have you been practicing on now?$

$Just you my love. Well, I guess also Aiofe and Bridie here.$

Buffy reached between the other woman's legs, searching for, and finding her pleasure button. Twirling Aiofe's clitoris between her thumb and forefinger Buffy asked softly, "you want me to stop?"

"Goddess no," panted Aiofe, "don't you dare stop now."

Willow, who was performing similar actions on Bridie, had a thought, $lover.$

$Yes.$

$Lets try to get them to come simultaneously.$

$Great idea! But lets prolong it as long as possible.$

Buffy and Willow then proceeded to work in concert on the other women. Using their fingers, tongues and magic they began to stimulate and pleasure their friends. They timed every move, they brought each woman to a peak, then paused allowing the anticipated climax to fade. They worked as a team for nearly an hour, in perfect synchronization. It almost became a game, as Aiofe and Bridie tried everything to achieve their orgasms; while Buffy and Willow did everything they could to delay them. The work that Buffy and Willow were doing was beginning to have an expected effect on them as well. Their pulses began to race, their skin became flush, and the sweat began to run off their bodies as the clefts between their legs began to run with the juice of their excitement. Finally, neither Buffy nor Willow could maintain the delicate balance, between anticipation and release, any longer and the four women exploded in a mutual orgasm, that peaked, then peaked again.

They lay on the bed, exhausted as Buffy and Willow's foetuses did a routine of isometric uterine exercises, as a counterpoint of harmonic aftershocks to the just concluded exertions.

"This is intense," commented Willow, noticing the vigorous exercise of her baby.

"I'd have to agree," Added Buffy, "they do seem to have enjoyed our little pleasure trip."

"Not as much as these two though," replied the arch-mach, motioning to the nearly comatose bodies of Aiofe and Bridie, "I didn't think that we would be able to keep it up as long as we did; but, I'm so glad we did."

"So are we," agreed Aiofe, as she tried, and failed, to sit up on the bed, "if it's alright by you, I think that we are going to sleep now."

"Fine by me," answered Buffy, as she and Willow snuggled together and also fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Moments later the door to the bedroom was nosed open, followed by the entrance of Shadow-Cat, who, as she jumped up to her usual place on the bed, thought, "Now I can get some proper sleep."

----------------------------------

The next morning, back in the village of Morning Breeze, life was progress as best it could, given the circumstances of war. Amana, Grael, Frankel and Daithi were in the common room of the inn, enjoying a leisurely breakfast while they attended to the few administrative chores that they were responsible for in Willow's absence.

"Is that it then," asked Amana, looking around the table at the others, "are we done for the day?"

"Let's just go over the list to make sure," said Grael.

"Ok," replied Daithi, "Sonya and the rest of the recent arrivals will be continuing their training this morning. After lunch, they will continue to work on the renovations needed on the third floor." Daithi paused for a moment then added, "I think that you should come and take a look at their progress this morning, it's been remarkable."

"Sounds good," answered Grael, "we'll do that. Meanwhile, Amana and I are going to continue to work on the inventories and determining what additional supplies we are going to need for the winter."

"Padrick and I will be checking out the southern pass this afternoon," continued Daithi, "to see if there has been any sign of demons."

"And I will continue interviewing the villagers, to see if they have heard of any additional demon sightings from any of their relatives in any of the neighbouring villages," said Frankel.

"Looks like we covered everything," said Amana, "let's get to it then."

Everyone stood up from the table, to head off to their various tasks. As she pushed in her chair, Amana turned to Daithi and said, "If it's ok with you, I think that we should take a look at Sonya and the rest now."

"Ok with me," replied the guard's captain, "they should be just finishing up their warm-up exercises about now."

They left the inn, heading to a barn at the end of the complex, which had been converted to a training centre for the guards. As they approached the building, they could hear the sounds of steel striking steel.

"Looks like they have started on the drills already," said Daithi as he held open the door for Amana and Grael, "I think that you will find this very interesting."

"Is it what you wanted to show us," asked Grael.

"In part," replied the other man, as he led them to the edge of the practice arena that had been erected in the centre of the old post and beam structure.

They watched the sparing, Amana and Grael in awe. In the middle of the arena was one of the newcomers; Amana remembered that her name was Elizabeth. She was currently facing two of Daithi's guardsmen and more than holding her own. Elizabeth was parrying every attack, and even managing to make an occasional attack of her own.

"This is remarkable," commented Grael, "were they all this accomplished before arriving here?"

"She's picked this up in the last two weeks," replied Daithi, "they all have."

"Impossible," said Amana, stunned by the implications, "this level of skill takes months of constant practice to achieve."

"Believe, me I know that," replied Daithi, "but two weeks ago none of them even knew how to hold a sword properly."

"I wish I understood this development," said Grael softly, "but I don't."

"Do you think we should we send for Willow or Buffy," asked Amana, concerned by her lover's uncertainty, "is it something that needs their immediate attention?"

"No," replied Grael, "I don't think so. We still need them to check out the northern passes, besides, there isn't anything overtly dangerous about Sonya and the rest of them developing military skills quickly now is there?"

Grael had known that once Willow had found out about the mission that had been given to Aiofe and Bridie that she would insist on going along, taking Buffy with her.

"No. Not overtly," replied Daithi carefully, "but I can't help but think that if they continue to develop their skills at this rate that they all will soon be as capable as Buffy is. Without her magic and enhanced genetics though."

"Now that is something we will discuss tonight with Frankel," said Amana, "he is certain to have some incite on this matter. Now, however, Grael and I have some inventories with our names on them, and you, I think, have some advanced training sessions to plan for these remarkable students."

Later that evening, after everyone else had finished their dinner and had retired for the evening, Amana, Grael, Daithi and Frankel met in what had now been named Willow's dining room in order to discuss the remarkable capability with weapons that Sonya and the other newcomers had demonstrated to Amana and Grael earlier in the day. Sonya had been asked to remain behind in the common room in case there was a need to question her.

"This is remarkable," said Frankel, for the tenth time since he had been informed of the fighting abilities of Sonya and her travelling companions.

"So you have said," Replied Grael, "but that still does not answer the questions of how and why."

"But that is obvious," answered Frankel, "I was certain you had already determined the answers to those questions this morning."

"What's obvious," said Amana, the irritation in her voice leaking through, "and would you be so kind as to share it with us?"

"But," said Frankel, "it's obvious that Sonya and her companions are our world's slayers."

"What," asked Daithi, who was very confused, "what do you mean slayers?"

"Like Buffy," replied Frankel, "these young women are our world's slayers, or our primary defence against the demons."

"But," interjected Grael, "it was my understanding that there was a 'Watcher's Council' or something to train the slayer, and that there was only one slayer at a time."

"That was my understanding as well," agreed the sage, "but if you stop to think about it, it doesn't make all that much sense."

"Say again," said Amana, who was also beginning to become a little confused.

"Let's look at what Buffy has told us," continued Frankel, launching into instructor mode, "first, there is this counsel, made up of a large number of people, who are responsible for training and watching the slayer, yes."

"That is my understanding," said Grael.

"Ok, then," said Frankel, "then why do they have such a large number of watchers, if there is only one slayer? Second, what are the rest of the counsel members doing, if they are not required to train slayers? I know Buffy told us about the maintenance of libraries and researching prophecies, but how many people do you think that could take? Third, do you really think that only one slayer would be sufficient to handle the demon problem on any world, even one such as Buffy's with its limited infestation?"

"Good questions, all of them," said Daithi, "do you have any theories, or answers?"

"Nothing concrete," replied the sage, "but I have a couple of ideas. First, I think that there are a number of slayers on every world, however, for some reason, on Buffy's world, each is told that they are the only one. Second, we have circumstantial evidence that Buffy's genetic makeup was altered before she was born, leading me to think that this counsel is involved in some greater game."

"So what do we do," asked Amana, "after all, they are on another world, and we are here."

"Well," replied the older man, "I will want to discuss this some more with both Buffy and Willow once they return. I'm convinced it is important, but maybe only when they return to their home world. Maybe my insights will help them deal with whatever problems they will have once they return."

"That will have to wait until they return," replied Amana, "and until we have solved our own little problems with demons."

"Now, let's get back to our current situation," said Grael, "and let's get Sonya in here for a few questions before we wrap things up for the night."

Daithi left the small room and returned a moment latter with Sonya. Sonya was visibly nervous to have been called before so many of her elders, but tried her best to hide her fear.

"Yes lady, and lords," she said, after she had been gestured to sit in a free chair before the fireplace, "what may I do to assist you?"

"Its ok child," said Frankel reassuringly, "you've done nothing wrong. We only need you to answer a few questions."

"Ok," replied the young woman carefully.

"We would like to talk about the remarkable skill that you, and your travelling companions, have shown with weapons," said Amana, initiating the conversation, "you have told Daithi that before you arrived here you had never used a sword before in your life, is that correct?"

"Yes lady," replied Sonya softly.

"You may call me Amana dear," replied the other woman, "now do you have any idea why you have gained your skills so rapidly?"

"Well, Amana," replied Sonya," the other girls and I have discussed this, at least a little bit."

"And?"

"Well, it's like everything we are doing is natural. Daithi or the other guardsmen only have to explain something once, and it's as if we have always known about it. Our bodies just seem to move in the right way, after we are shown a skill, then it's as if we always knew how."

"Can you think of any reason why this is so," asked Grael.

"No lord," replied the younger woman, "as best I can figure, all of us are from farming or crafter families. None of my brothers, or my father, was ever in the military."

"We know that you knew none of the other girls before you met them down the mountain," said Amana "is that true for the others?"

"Yes, Amana," answered the younger woman, "and as you know, we've come from all parts of the country."

"Interesting," said the sage, as he stroked his long beard, "almost as if there continues to be some sort of Devine assistance going on here."

"That speculation can wait a week or so until Buffy and Willow return," said Grael, "this is a development that Willow will have to address, so I think that we should table this discussion till they return. Now, lets us all head off for the baths and bed."

There was a consensus that Grael's idea was excellent, and the group all headed off for passage leading from the inn to the bath complex.

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Elsewhere in the mountains, far to the north of the village, the leaders of the demon force hunting for Willow were sitting around their campfire, discussing their plans for the next few days.

"Well the last two weeks haven't accomplished much," complained Hugh, as he stirred the fire with a long branch, trying to coax a little more heat from it, "none of the villagers we've tortured knew anything about that damned witch or the slayer."

"At least it made the troops happy," said Junulak, "that does account for something."

"But it still hasn't brought us any closer to our goal," replied Talor, "and if anything our activities may have alerted our prey to our existence."

"Need I remind you two that attacking the villages was your idea," said Junulak, his voice ringing with steel, "I agreed with you, yes, but it was your idea, so no more complaints about lack of progress. Now, let's take a look at the map and I show you my ideas for what we are going to do next."

Junulak unrolled a large parchment, which was a detailed map of the territory they were in. The three demons spent some time looking over the map and familiarizing themselves with the various villages and natural features detailed on it.

"They way I see it," said Junulak, pointing out a hamlet and a mountain pass, "we have to check out both this hamlet, and the farmsteads along this pass here. Then, the way will be clear to focus on this village at the end of this valley." Junulak concluded his mini-briefing by pointing out the village of Morning Breeze.

"Going to take some time," commented Hugh, "if we check out the hamlet, then the pass it's going to take at least two weeks, maybe more."

"Not my plan," replied Junulak, "I want to speed this up, before our master takes an interest in us, so I'm going to split our forces. Hugh, you are going to take half the troops and check out the pass, while Talor and I will take the remainder and takeout the hamlet. We will meet at the north end of this valley in one week's time."

"Sounds good," said Hugh, "I'll leave at first light.

"I think that this is our last chance," commented Junulak, "if we don't get some information, soon, our master will be certain to take an unpleasant interest in us."

"That is something we want to avoid," said Talor, shivering at the thought, "let's prey that we find some answers in our efforts."

----------------------------------

Not that far from where the demon leadership was having their strategy session, four young women were in the process of setting up their campsite for the evening. They were at the southern end of a long mountain pass, which had a fast flowing stream running down its centre, with steep forested cliffs running parallel to the stream. The stream had cut a wide plane through the mountains; there was approximately twenty meters of open mountain meadows on either side of the stream, testimony to the extent of the spring flooding, before reaching the edge of the cliff faces. The stream was the same one that wandered by the cottage; the foursome had followed it as a starting point for their investigations into demon activity in the area. It was cold, the temperature hovering at the freezing point, and there was a light dusting of fresh snow decorating the mountain pines and the meadow in which they had chosen to camp.

"This sucks," commented Willow, echoing her life-mates comment of the previous day.

"No kidding," agreed Buffy, trying for the fifth time to erect the tent that the four of them would be using. "This demented excuse for a tent is possessed. It refuses to stay together."

"Now, you know it's not possessed," replied Willow with a laugh, while arranging a circle of stones for their fire, "it's just that you are mechanically challenged."

"I am so not mechanically challenged," retorted the slayer,

"I'd get this blasted thing to stay together if my fingers weren't freezing off my hand."

"What, the tent not up yet," commented Aiofe, as she and Bridie entered the campsite, each carrying a load of firewood.

"No," replied Buffy frostily, "it's not up yet."

"Here let me help you," said Bridie, as she deposited her load of wood beside Willow's fire pit before going over to Buffy, starting her assistance by rubbing some warmth into the slayer's hands.

"I told you that you should be wearing your gloves, now where are they?"

"In my backpack," replied Buffy, "it's just that I'm not ready to wear gloves in July."

"But you are ready to have them freeze," responded Bridie, pulling the leather and fur gloves onto Buffy's hands, "that doesn't make any sense now does it?"

"I suppose you're right," grumbled Buffy, flexing her fingers to try to get the circulation going.

Within minutes, everything was in order. Willow had finished making the fireplace, and had built up a large cheery fire in it. She had also dragged a large fallen tree next to the fire pit, to be used for seating. Bridie and Buffy had finally managed to set up the tent, while Aiofe put together a simple dinner of soup and bread. They were all sitting close together, and close to the fire, to ward off the chill temperatures.

"We are going to freeze tonight," commented Buffy, "once we leave this fire we are going to turn into popsicles."

"Nope," replied Aiofe, "we will be nice and warm."

"How," asked Willow, "what are we going to do for heat?"

"Simple," answered Bridie, "our sleeping bag is down-filled, and it has a series of pockets running along the outside edge of it."

"So," queried Buffy.

"So," continued Bridie, "we will take the hot stones from around the fire, and put them in the pockets. They, combined with our joint body heat, and a few layers of clothing, will keep us warm."

"Cool," said Willow, "that is one nifty idea."

The four women sat in silence, watching the figures dancing in the flames, and the sparks, thrown up by the cracking of the logs, as they leaped up into the air to join the billions of stars in the crystal clear moon-dark sky. The four of them had become more than comfortable with each other, and worded communication was often no longer necessary. They could therefore sit in silence, not needing to fill the breathtaking surroundings with needless words, each of them contemplating their own thoughts.

Willow, allowed her mind to wander, secure in the knowledge that she was among friends and safe. She thought about the tremendous events that had happened to her over the last six months and how her life would never be the same, even if she and Buffy managed to make it back 'home' somehow. She realized that even though she missed her earth tremendously, sometimes, deep in the night when she was the only one awake, to the point of tears, that as long as she had Buffy, she was in fact 'home'. As she continued her musings she began to understand that for her, 'home' now also included Aiofe and Bridie, in addition to her life-mate. Willow was now having, consciously, the same thoughts that she had previously only expressed subconsciously, in particular during the dream that Buffy had witnessed over four months earlier, just before they had been driven into the mountains. Willow was curious to see if the others shared her feelings. "I've been thinking," she said, breaking the stillness of the night.

"Dangerous," replied the other three women simultaneously.

"Buffy and I are bound to each other forever," continued Willow, ignoring the sarcasm by the others, "and that will never change, but, I've been wondering how all of you feel about the relationship between the four of us."

"What do you mean sweetheart," asked Buffy, realizing where the conversation was leading, but wanting to give her lover an out, if she needed it.

"Well," started Willow carefully, "I think that I've come to the realization that Aiofe and Bridie are more than good friends, and more than 'family', and I was wondering how everyone else saw things."

"Deep thinking," Replied Buffy, "I know how I feel, and like most things your soul and mine share the same thoughts. To be honest, I've been having ideas similar to this for the last few months. It's just that I think that I was afraid to mention them aloud."

Both Buffy and Willow turned expectantly to the other young women, who let out a deep, joint, sigh.

"Buffy," began Aiofe.

"Willow," said Bridie simultaneously.

After a moment, Bridie continued, "ladies, you have touched upon something that Aiofe and I have discussed many times. We both love you two more than anyone else, and share your insight on the strength and depth of our joined relationships. We also think of you as more than friends, and more than family, and have grown to love and trust you both very deeply. That love and trust led us, more than anything else, to asking for your help in making us mothers to be."

"We were hesitant to mention anything directly," added Aiofe, "for fear that you didn't feel the same way, and that you would not want us as a permanent feature in your lives."

"Not that we have really thought that far ahead," added Bridie, "given that recently we haven't had much opportunity to plan beyond the next week or so at any given time."

"Well," said Willow, knowing that she could speak for both herself and for Buffy, "I would be honoured if the two of you could become, as you so nicely put it, 'permanent features' in our lives."

"I do see a problem," said Buffy, "when it comes time for us to leave. What do we do then, and how do we remain so close?"

"We will find an answer," replied Willow reassuringly. "Now, group hug time, and maybe some hot cider to celebrate."

The women all embraced and kissed each other softly, each now reassured by the knowledge that their feelings for the other women were reciprocated. There would be problems and difficulties ahead, particularly when it came time for Buffy and Willow to leave, but somehow they knew that between them they would find the answers and solve all of their problems.

As Willow was pouring each of them a mug of hot cider, Buffy's slayer sense went off. "Heads up gals," she said in a whisper, "we've got trouble nearby."

"What's up," asked Willow, the concern obvious in her voice.

"A vamp," replied the slayer, her attention now totally focused on the hunt, and the slay, "not to far away, maybe a hundred meters or so."

"It won't get by our protections," said Willow, referring to the protection ring that she had cast in a ten-meter circle around their campsite, "you could stay, and not worry about it tonight."

"You know that I can't," replied Buffy softly, as she got up from the fire, looking for her weapons, "want to come along?"

"Wouldn't miss it," answered Bridie for the other women, "we are here to guard your body after all."

Suddenly there was a bellow of rage, which emanated from the far side of the camp, it sounded like a creature in abject pain.

"Sounds like our visitor has found the ring," said Willow, "it looks like he, or she, is not too happy about it either."

"Shall we go and see," asked Buffy, "I must admit, that the hunt is a lot easier when they come to you."

"Better than checking out the graveyards every night," agreed Willow, as she and the other young women formed up behind the slayer to check out who, or what, had yelled in pain.

They quickly crossed the campsite, to an area well behind the tent. They could see an indistinct figure standing just beyond edge of Willow's protection ring.

"We could do with better light," commented Buffy, "I can't really see what we are dealing with."

"No problemo," replied Willow, who concentrated for a moment then with a softly whispered, "leayrtrys," created a ball of light and set it floating in the air above Buffy's head. "There we go. That better," she asked.

"Much, thank you love."

Revealed by Willow's light, was a fully morphed vampire, his face twisted in rage, pacing back and forth, just outside the edge of the protection circle.

"What have you done, you bitches," he yelled, "why can't I get in at you?"

"One track minds," said Buffy, totally ignoring the agitated vampire, "you think that after all of this time I would learn, but I still expect something different."

"What," asked Willow, also ignoring the vampire, "witty conversation and dry humour, discussions on literature or fine art?"

"I don't know, something," replied Buffy, finally turning her attention to the vampire, "oh well, maybe next time. Now what do we have here?"

Both Aiofe and Bridie were more than a little confused by the banter between Buffy and Willow. They were faced with what was a major source of fear on their world, and Buffy wasn't showing any signs of concern. Granted, they knew she was the slayer, and they had seen her in action before, but it was still an eye opening experience to witness the self-confidence of the slayer when she was engaged in her mission.

"Well," answered Willow, "it looks like one really pissed-off vampire, who is nonetheless really stupid to stick around when faced with something totally unknown. Do you want to simply dust it, or do you think that we should get some info first?"

"It seems such a shame to simply dust him," said Buffy, "after all he did come all this way. Why don't we ask a few questions first?"

"Sounds good," said the arch-mage, "do you want to beat him up first, or simply hold him?"

"Hold him, I think. After all it is late, I'm cold, and I don't really feel like spending a lot of time chasing him through the woods and up and down the mountains."

Buffy then cast the same binding spell that she had used before, and once the vampire was totally immobilized, she and the others went up to the now slightly confused, and terrified demon.

"This one is older," commented Willow, walking around the bound demon, "looks to have been around for a while."

"Yep," added Buffy succinctly, also spending a few minutes investigating her prey, "definitely been doing this a while."

She stopped her pacing, stood directly in front of the vampire and addressed him, "hey, fangy. Before you die, I've a few questions you are going to answer."

"Go to hell, bitch," he replied. He was an old vampire, having been turned over two hundred years previously; however, he was terrified by this totally unknown experience. He reacted with bravado, trying to mask his fear.

"No, that particular spot is reserved for your kind," replied the slayer as she swiftly dropkicked the vampire, doubling him over in pain.

"I don't have much time, and we can do this one of two ways; one, you answer my questions, nicely, and then I dust you; or two, you try to resist and I cause you severe pain by slowly ripping off your limbs, then you answer my questions, then I dust you. Now which is it?"

"Shut up, and let me go," replied the vampire, trying to use all of his powers of compulsion, "I need to feed, and you are going to be my meal."

"I rather doubt it," replied Willow, as she watched Buffy calmly walk up to the demon and rip his right arm out of the socket.

The vampire screamed in agony as his arm was removed, "you total bitch," he screamed, "I'm going to get you for that."

"They never learn, do they," asked Buffy turning towards her lover.

Retuning her attention to the vampire she proceeded to beat him over his head, with his arm, while saying, "Now, are you going to answer my questions, or am I going to continue to remove your limbs?"

"What do you want to know?"

"There, wasn't that easy," replied the slayer, tossing his arm over her shoulder, "first, are you alone, or are you with the group of demons causing havoc in these mountains?"

"Alone."

"When was the last time you fed on a human?"

"Last week, a farmer and his wife."

"Did you turn them," continued Buffy, pacing back and forth, trying to stay warm, "or just feed?"

"I just fed."

"When was the last time you turned someone," asked Willow, "and where?"

"Months ago," replied the vampire, "some village idiot down the mountain."

"Looks like we found our sire," commented Buffy, "any other question love?"

"Just one," replied Willow, turning to address the demon, "now, do you know anything about the demons in these mountains?"

"Some."

"What," asked Buffy, the annoyance evident in her voice, reaching for his other arm.

"They are about a day or so north of here," added the vampire quickly.

"That does me fine," said the arch-mage, turning to Aiofe and Bridie, Willow asked, "ladies, can you think of anything else?"

Buffy, seeing answering head shakes from Bridie and Aiofe pulled Mr. Pointy from her jacket pocket and swiftly flung it at the vampire. He was too startled to react as the stake entered his chest, resulting in a small pile of dust on the meadow floor.

"No miss this time," commented Willow, "nice throw lover."

"Thanks," said Buffy, "now, let's get back to the fire, before we all freeze to death."

The four women returned to their fire and refreshed their mugs of cider before making preparations to head off to bed for the night. Soon, all four women were dressed in multiple layers, and snuggled closely together, to stave off the cold, deep in their shared sleeping bag.

$Red, you ok?$

$Yep, you?$

$Fine. We really do care for them don't we?$

$That we do. It's like they've become an extension of us. It's like the more you and I become one, the more we need them, almost as if we need them to express our individuality. Maybe, I'm just babbling. Maybe I'm way too tired to think strait.$

$We are having one strange year, that's for sure,$ added Buffy just as the two of them drifted off to sleep.

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Two days later Willow's group were still working their way through the river pass. The going had been much harder than they had expected, with the weather worsening each day. There was now nearly ten centimetres of fresh snow on the ground, and the overhanging steel grey skies were promising more over the next few hours. They had to move slowly, due in no small part to the unstable footing on the slick, and partially frozen ground. The good news, if there could be any, was that they had not seen any signs of the demons that were supposed to be in the area.

"If this gets any worse," said Aiofe, who was leading the band, "we are going to have to turn back."

"Can't risk being trapped up here," agreed Bridie, "we don't have enough supplies, or shelter."

"One more day," said Willow, who was bringing up the rear, "if we see no sign of them, we head back to the cottage and then the inn."

"Excellent idea lover," commented Buffy, who was still trying to get warm, despite several layers of clothing and a thick down coat.

One of the other reasons that they had been delayed was their stopping at a number of farmsteads, which dotted the river pass. They had warned the people they had met about the demon threat, and had suggested to them that they pack up and head for the village, where they would be better protected, should any demons show up.

"I didn't thing that last family would leave," said Buffy, reflecting on the farmers they had talked to earlier in the day, "it was like he didn't believe us."

"Couldn't," offered Aiofe, "the idea is totally outside of these people's experiences. They just can't believe that they could be in danger."

"They'll learn," said Willow, "especially if I can't figure out a way of closing the hell-mouths."

"Well," said Bridie, trying to keep everyone focused on the task at hand, "that is a problem for when we return home. At least these people were warned, and will take action. There is one more farmhouse, just over this rise, which we can reach today. Maybe after we pass along our news, they will let us stay indoors tonight, out of the snow."

"Now that is something to look forward to," agreed Willow, "just thing Buff, a night in a warm bed."

"Bliss. Joy, and much happiness," replied the miserable slayer.

The prevailing wind, which had been coming up from behind them all day, suddenly changed so that they were walking into it. The bitter wind began to bite into their faces, causing them to stop for a moment to wrap thick scarves around their heads, leaving only a small gap so they could see. Buffy, with her enhanced senses, also noticed something else carried on the wind.

"More trouble ahead," she said, noticing the pungent stench of burnt buildings and flesh, "and we won't have a place to stay tonight."

"Demons," said Willow, "I guess we've found them."

"Yep," replied the slayer, training all of her senses ahead of them, trying to gain any additional information that she could.

"What do we do," asked Aiofe.

"We investigate," replied the arch-mage, "carefully."

Willow had the four of them continue to move in single file, however, instead of moving beside the stream, they moved over so that they were hugging the sides of the pass. She moved Buffy to the lead, and had Aiofe bring up the rear. This way she knew that her best offensive weapon was in the optimum position to evaluate and to take action. They moved slowly, with the stench of the burnt farm becoming stronger with each step. Finally, they crested the hill, to look down on a scene that even Dante would have had difficulty to write about.

The farmstead had been a large operation, with several houses, barns and ancillary outbuildings. Now it was all-ablaze, and there was a black, oily, smoke rising from the buildings. The former occupants of the farm had all been rounded up, and forced into one of the sheep pens. They had then been lead one by one to an area near one of the barns so that they could be systematically tortured and butchered. There had been at least thirty such deaths so far; men, women and children had all received the same fate. The young women noticed that there were four or five people still left alive, awaiting the same destiny as the others, locked in a sheep pen watched over by six demons. The remaining force of forty or so demons was busily involved in what appeared to be the consumption of the former farmers.

"I'm going to be truly sick," said Aiofe, barely able to speak even in a whisper.

"Sick later," commented Buffy, with ice in her voice, "many demon deaths now."

"They're kinda overconfident aren't they," asked Willow, as she surveyed the area, noticing that the demons had not even bothered to have sentries posted.

"Dumb as posts," agreed the slayer, already thinking of the best way of approaching this particular problem.

"Suggestions," asked Willow, "whatever it is we want to work fast, before the slime can get to those other people locked up in that pen."

"I have an idea," offered Buffy. She pointed out the group of demons who were consuming the former farmers and said, "that group over there, are they far enough from the remaining humans for you to use your magic?"

Willow thought for a moment and looked over the situation before replying, "yes, they're far enough away. What do you have in mind?"

"Incinerate them. That would be poetic justice, and will distract the others long enough for me to get down there. Meanwhile, Aiofe and Bridie can follow behind me, and free the remaining prisoners, while you stay back and remain in reserve, just in case we need some major firepower."

"I like it," said Willow, "one thing though."

"Yes," asked the slayer.

"If you see a leader type," answered Willow, "save its ass. I think we will want to bring it home, so that Grael and Amana can get some serious answers from it."

"Okey, dokey," said Buffy, as she and the other two young women moved slightly ahead of Willow.

Willow then began to concentrate on drawing up what energy she could before turning to her lover and saying, "Ok loves, get running. I will unleash my firestorm just as you reach the edge of the barnyard. That should give you the distraction you need to get in close, before any of them can notice you and react."

Over the last few months, Willow had continued her magical training and had polished her skills to an ability that she would have never previously thought possible. She was going to attempt to do something that months earlier would have been impossible for her, or if she believed Grael, for anyone. She drew up the magical energy from around her, and instead of having to use it immediately she stored it, waiting for Buffy and the others to reach the farm. This would allow her to react the instant that Buffy entered the farmyard, and into danger.

She watched as they approached the yard, and just as they entered it, she focused the energy she had collected and then yelled out, "lhome-loshtee jouyil."

As the energy left her, centred on the targets that she had selected, Willow collapsed, exhausted from her efforts. As she sat on the cold ground, she thought to herself, "that should do the trick; but damn, that took more out of me than I thought it would."

The results were instantaneous, and explosive. Each of the demons that Willow had targeted was immediately set ablaze, each of them turning into a pillar of flame. The immolated demons began to run amok, screaming in agony, providing the distraction that Buffy needed so that she could close the distance to the demons that were guarding the remaining farmers. As she crossed the farmyard, she briefly asked the Goddess for her help; as she did so, her sword began to pulsate on her chest, ready for action. Buffy reached down, grasped the hilt of her sword and sighed softly as it detached from her body. Raising the sword above her head, Buffy felt a surge, almost sexual, go through her body as it ignited.

Turning to Aiofe and Bridie she screamed, "lets kick some demon but."

The slayer then turned towards the pen, which was holding the farmers, and screamed, "Die, demon scum," at the demons standing directly in front of the locked gate.

Running directly at the six demons, Buffy raised her sword overhead, and just as she came within reach of the first of the stunned into motionless demons, a three horned humanoid standing nearly two meters tall, she slashed violently downwards, slicing deep into its neck and torso, causing it to fall to the ground, body twitching as it died.

The remaining demons that had been guarding the humans bolted. They had already been spooked by the simultaneous, spontaneous immolation of their companions. Now they were faced with a human waving a huge flaming sword, who apparently was looking for their blood.

Seeing that the remaining demons had fled, Buffy yelled over her shoulder, "Aiofe, Bridie, get these people out of here, and back to Willow."

She had known the instant that Willow had collapsed and wanted the others to get back as quick as they could, to provide protection to her soul mate.

"Will do," replied Aiofe, as she and Bridie headed over to where the farmers had been penned and began to work on the gate's lock.

Within minutes, they had the door open and had collected the remaining prisoners. They immediately left the farm, heading back to the arch-mage.

Buffy looked around, there were two demons heading away from her, towards the river and therefore totally out of immediate concern, and three heading towards the area in front of the barns where the farmers had been tortured and killed. Buffy could see that where they were heading was another farmer, bound to a post, and a human like demon who had been busy torturing him.

Thinking to herself, "looks like they're running to the boss," she took up the chase.

Hugh had been spending his time, very unproductively he thought, trying to extract information from peasants who had none to give. He had continued with the torture and executions primarily to keep his troops happy, and to satisfy his own desire to lash out at something, or someone, for all the inconvenience and trouble he had been through in the last five months. He had almost completed his questioning of one of the last farmers when all hell broke loose. Hearing the screams of his troops, he turned away from his victim, to see over forty pillars of flame, pillars that used to be his troops.

"Gods above," he whispered aloud, "what is going on here?" At that point he saw three more of his men, men who were supposed to be guarding the remaining prisoners, running towards him.

"Master," the one in the lead screamed, "we have been set upon by humans."

"What are you yelling about," Hugh yelled at the trooper, just as he saw the object of their fear, "never mind, I see her," he continued as he watched the slayer walk purposefully towards them, her flaming sword carried at an easy rest beside her.

"Attack her you fools," he yelled at the three terrified demons, "get her before she can get here, and get at me."

The demons reluctantly followed their orders; they were bound and had no choice in the matter. They cautiously moved towards the slayer, trying to surround her on three sides. Buffy was far too experienced to be fooled by any manoeuvre that these demons would try. Seeing the attempt to flank her, she suddenly leaped towards her right, and kicked her opponent to the ground. She then slashed at the downed demon, decapitating him. She then ran back, towards the demon who had been trying to flank her on the left, and slashed across her waist, disembowelling the startled demon, who had not even had a chance to react to the death of his companion. The third demon, a green-blue scaled beast, took the opportunity to slash Buffy across her back, ripping through her armour and opening up a twenty-centimetre gash over her shoulder.

Buffy internalised the pain, starting her enhanced healing process, as she turned around saying, "you're going to die for that. Real slow."

She attacked, her sword weightless, and she used it to whittle away at the demon. He was unable to block her attacks, or counterattack in any way, and soon was bleeding from numerous cuts. With each successive cut, he became weaker, until he collapsed to the ground, barely able to breathe.

Buffy leaned over the demon, spat on him and said, "That is better than you deserve for attacking innocents."

Buffy stopped for a moment to collect her breath. Her attack on the three demons had taken less than five minutes, and it had been less than ten since Willow's spell, but Buffy was nearly spent. The stress of the battle, coupled with the blood loss from the demon's attack was beginning to have its effect on the slayer. Her healing ability had partially closed the wound in her back, and had slowed the bleeding, but the wound was still having a debilitating effect on her. She needed to finish this, and soon, so that she could rest and regain some energy.

"One more," she thought to herself, "but this one we want alive."

Hugh had had enough, all of his troops were dead, the majority smoking blackened corpses; he backed away and then turned and ran. He didn't get far.

Buffy had noticed his attempt to escape and yelled out, "greimmey jouyil," resulting in Hugh coming to a complete stop as if his feet were bound to the ground.

Buffy slowly walked over to the post where the farmer was bound and carefully untied him saying, "It is ok, you're safe now."

She continued to reassure the weeping man, holding him in her arms, until Willow, Aiofe, Bridie and the remaining farmers approached.

"Now what," asked Buffy, drained, but not surprised to see Willow and the others.

"Now we bandage that cut on your shoulder," replied her lover, who had immediately left for the battle the instant she had felt Buffy's injury, "and get moving back to the cottage."

"What about statue boy over here," asked Aiofe, "what do we do with him?"

Willow walked over to the frozen leader and commented quietly, "I've seen this one before. I can't remember where, but somewhere." Turning to Aiofe and Bridie she said, "Tie a rope to him and drag him behind us. I don't really care if he gets a bit bruised. Maybe if he is a bit battered it will be easier for Aiofe and Grael to get some information out of him."

Hugh paled at that information. He knew that it was unlikely for the witch or the slayer to recognize him, however, once Grael saw him, his goose was truly cooked. He began to think of ways to escape, maybe by sweet talking one of the farmers.

That hope was dashed when Willow turned to Bridie and said, "Gag him. We don't know if he's a mage or not. Beside we don't want him talking to anyone before we get back to the village."

Everyone then made immediate preparations to leave. First they gathered what human remains they could, and after saying the appropriate prayers to the Goddess, placed them on a hastily built funeral pyre, and lit it; commending the bodies to the elements, while the souls went on to the next life, in anticipation of rebirth.

They then left the battlefield, knowing that the greater the distance they got from the farm, the less likely they would be followed. However, Willow did one more thing before leaving. Summoning up what little reserves she had, she reduced the demon corpses to their component dust, and watched with satisfaction as the dust scattered in the breeze.

----------------------------------

Three days later Junulak and Talor, along with their force of fifty demons cautiously approached the burnt out farmstead. The two demons that had escaped Willow and Buffy's attack had travelled non-stop to find the other leaders and apprise them of what had happened. Junulak had immediately broken off the impending attack on the village he was surrounding and had set out on a forced march to where Hugh had been attacked. Both of the leaders looked out over the still smoking runes. They could see where Hugh had conducted his interrogations, and where the funeral pyre was. However, they could find no signs of Hugh, his army, or their corpses. It was if they had vanished into the mist.

"This bothers me," said Talor, "where are the bodies. Where are the humans?"

"Gone," replied Junulak succinctly, "that witch must have done something with them."

"But what?" asked the imp.

"Don't know. But whatever it is, I have no desire to find out about it."

"What do you mean?"

"That's it," replied Junulak, "I'm for the hills, our master be dammed. I'm not going after that witch, and the slayer, with only fifty men. Its obvious that they are too powerful, and that the slayer has built her support group. He can try to dig me out of these mountains, or go after her himself, but I know what my fate will be if I bring back any news of failure."

All of the remaining demons shared the convictions of their leader, and they swiftly departed, breaking into small groups of two or three to find secluded homes deep in the mountains.

----------------------------------

That same morning Willow and the others made their way into the village. They had made excellent time back to the cottage, due to an improvement in the weather, and a desire to move as quickly as possible. They had not wasted much time at the cottage. They had packed up their possessions, including Willow's familiar, which had been left in the cottage. Everyone had taken the opportunity for a bath and a hot meal before immediately heading back to the inn.

They made an immediate impression as they entered the common room of the inn. Although they were clean, they were haggard, the former farmers even more so, from the three days of forced travel.

They dropped their bags just inside the door as Willow called out, "hey all, we're back."

Grael, Amana and the others came out to greet their companions. They stopped short as they watched Buffy pickup from the floor, and stand up a humanoid captive, who apparently was immobile as well as gagged. Grael immediately recognized the prisoner.

Moving rapidly through the crowd, he stood in front of the demon and said, venom dripping from every word, "Hugh d'Troville, if that is even your real name. How nice to see you again. I just bet you would rather be anywhere but here."

A/N – thanks again for all of your reviews.


	12. Aspirat Primo Fortuna Labori

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter XII - Aspirat Primo Fortuna Labori

(Fortune smiles upon our first effort)

Blackness. He was in a realm of utter darkness, and completely devoid and deprived of most forms of input to his senses. The demon Hugh d'Troville had been imprisoned, in an isolation cell. The early winter wind added to the plunging temperatures outside, but he felt no temperature change. The fires and lanterns in the inn were all lit to ward of the cold and the dark, but he saw no light. The inn was filled with the sounds of its inhabitants getting ready to celebrate the impending birth of two children, and the upcoming solstice, but he heard no sounds. The various members of Willow's strike force had settled into a steady and dependable routine of activities, but he was totally incapable of calculating the passage of time. He was being subjected to this deprivation in an attempt to make him totally dependant on one other person, that person being the mage Grael. The situation was beginning to drive him to the breaking point, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to hold out too much longer.

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Grael had explained his interrogation technique to Willow four months earlier when she and Buffy had brought in Hugh as a prisoner. He had indicated that by depriving the demon of any base of reference that he would soon become totally dependant on the information given to him by others. That would then result in his trusting that person, and therefore providing to that person anything, or any information, in order to avert being returned to a situation of total seclusion. To create this situation the demon had been imprisoned in a cellar, deep underneath the inn, and Grael had added extra shielding and insulation around the room to create the total isolation cell.

Hugh was now nearly at the breaking point. Grael had indicated at the morning briefing that the demon was now almost totally unaware of his surroundings, and that what internal resolve he had left would almost certainly be gone in the next day or so. He had begun to trust only Grael, and had become dependant on him for all food and conversation.

"Finally," said Buffy, playing with her breakfast, "when you told us about this technique, lo those many months ago, I never thought it would take this long."

"Frankly," said Grael, "neither did I. However, it looks like we will soon be able to start asking some questions, and finally get some answers."

"You'll keep us informed," said Willow, finishing her mug of cider, using it to wash down Amana's collection of herbs that she was taking as part of her pregnancy routine, "and, please make sure that at least one of us is there."

Grael nodded his head, in understanding and acceptance.

"Why is this taking so long," asked Aiofe, "how has he been able to hold out?"

"Some beings are just more resistant," answered Grael, "he's strong, but nobody can hold out forever."

"Well," added Amana, "it's better than beating the information out of him. This way we're almost certain that everything he tells us will be the truth."

"Not that I'd have minded beating him," said Buffy, "for what he tried to do."

Buffy and Willow had learned the true identity of their prisoner when Grael had greeted him. It had taken all of Willow's strength and persuasive abilities to hold Buffy back from killing Hugh, once she had realized that he was the one who was responsible for the attack that nearly killed her lover. Even now, months later, Buffy was often incensed over the attack that nearly killed Willow, and had to be restrained from going downstairs and taking out her anger on the captured demon.

But that was mostly water under the bridge. Buffy had more important matters to worry about just then, the least of which were Sonya and the other slayers and how to continue their training in the depths of winter. Buffy and Willow had been notified of the remarkable performance of the new arrivals, and of Frankel's theory, shortly after their return from their honeymoon. This had resulted in several busy days as the slayer and the arch-mage struggled to make sense of this new development, and to try to determine how thirteen new slayers could help Willow in her quest to close the hell-mouths.

Over the last four months, the new slayers had made steady progress until now their skill would rival an un-pregnant Buffy. However, over the last week or so, they had not demonstrated any significant progress in their abilities. It was becoming apparent that they would have to find something for Sonya and the rest of the new slayers to do, or they would begin to lose their newfound skills and talents.

"Training alone isn't going to do it for much longer," said Buffy as the morning briefing turned to other topics, "they are going to have to get out and face demons, if only to prove to themselves that they can do it."

"I agree," Said Willow, "and we've been over this before. It's not as if we can put up a sign saying, 'yoo-hoo! Demons! Come here and be practice targets,' now is it?"

"No, but," replied Buffy, standing up from the table and stretching out her back, trying to get some relief from the pressure her soon to be bourn daughter was placing on it, "oh, I don't know. It's just that if I were in their shoes, I'd be consumed with self-doubt. I never had to worry about waiting for vampires; my first watcher essentially threw me into the deep end to see if I could swim."

"Fundamentally because you refused to believe a word he was saying," said Willow, "if what you told me was correct, $and I know it was now don't I,$ you were a typical valley-girl, only worried about your hair and other 'light' topics."

"Yah, but."

"Yah, but nothing," said Willow, smiling at the sometimes single-mindedness of her spouse, "I think that as long as we get them something to do in the next month or so, we'll be fine, don't worry sweetie. Meanwhile, they can continue to help Daithi with the patrols, it's just that we will have them take the lead in any encounters. This will give them some confidence, knowing that they will have experienced backup. It's not as if these women are totally ignorant of demons and the threat that they place on humanity, now is it?

"Now what's next on the agenda?"

Over the previous months, Willow had developed into a true leader. She now had poise and self-confidence, and was comfortable making decisions. She met daily with her closest advisors, what the rest of the inn's inhabitants and the townspeople had taken to calling her command group: Buffy, Aiofe, Bridie, Amana, Grael, Daithi and Frankel, to plan out the daily minutia of caring and providing for the twenty-seven residents of the inn. Not to mention the additional work required in her expanded role of providing employment and protection for the other inhabitants of Morning Breeze. She had, in fact if not in name, replaced the town's mayor as the leader of the entire community.

"Well boss," said Aiofe, "we have to go over the winter supply situation for the inn and the town, and the improvements required to the fortifications on the north side of town."

"Goddess," said the arch-mage, "this administrative stuff is taking huge chunks of time. How am I ever going to figure out closing the portals, if all I'm doing is solving the next food crisis."

"Not to mention that sometime in the next few days, you'll also be busy feeding and caring for your baby," said Bridie, somewhat unhelpfully.

"Don't remind us," said Buffy and Willow simultaneously, as their babies began to do a three-step fandango.

"Besides," said Willow, "I have been delegating my jobs, so that once these parasites arrive, I will have less to do."

"They can't come too soon," said Buffy, continuing her pacing behind the table.

"Well," said Amana, "it's often said that pregnancy is one month too long. And that that month always seems to be three times longer than all the others, it's also true that at this stage they are taking everything from your bodies that you can give."

"I'll agree with that; but the anticipation is beginning to drive me nuts," said Willow as she got up from the table; she and Buffy had been on constant pins and needles for the past week or so, thinking that every little twinge was the start of labour,

"Amana, you and Grael handle the rest of the agenda; I've got another appointment with the bathroom."

"I'm with you," added Buffy, also feeling the call from her flattened bladder, "once this is over, I'm going to bronze the seat. It's seen more of me than you have recently."

"But it doesn't love you like I do," said Willow as she walked out of the common room, hand in hand with her lover.

Ever since the babies had dropped two weeks earlier and engaged in their pelvic cradles, both women had beaten a constant path to the bathroom; it seemed like every time they drank something, they were sitting, peeing, ten minutes later.

Once the two young women had left the room Grael turned to his long-time friend and lover and asked, concern and worry evident in his voice, "how are they doing?"

"They're fine," said Amana with a little laugh, "all first time mothers go through this. The babies are fine, they are fine, they've done all the proper exercises and they've practiced as best they can for the birth."

"Aiofe and I will be their coaches," said Bridie, "and we've been dutifully practicing all of our breathing techniques."

"And Willow has done an excellent job of starting the delegation of her duties," said Amana, "knowing that once the babies are here she is going to have to re-prioritise her life."

"I'm just worried," said Grael, "our future depends on them."

"Don't worry, love," said Amana gently, "you were the same with me for each of ours, and everything worked out now didn't it?"

"Yes, but."

"In the words of our leader," said Amana, "yes, but nothing. They will be fine. They have enough on their minds without having you hovering and worrying non-stop. Now let's finish our work here so that we can get the rest of the day underway. After all, we are hoping for a breakthrough with Hugh."

The six remaining members of the command group then turned their attention to the rest of the daily briefing, before starting the rest of their day.

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After completing their business in the bathroom, Buffy and Willow had decided to sneak out, play hooky and have a relaxing bath. It was just one of those days where they needed the soothing, and buoyant, pleasure of a long soak. It seemed like neither woman could keep her mind focused on anything, and they both thought that a bath would help.

The renovations to the bath complex had continued over the fall and were now complete. There were several rooms for changing and relaxing after bathing, complete with fireplaces, and comfortable furniture. The three baths had all had their tile linings repaired and the plumbing, which went from the deep wells and the boiler, had all been refurbished so that there was now constantly circulating water for all of the pools. The fireplaces and brick wall lanterns had all been cleaned and re-pointed, and the windows and skylights had had their glass replaced. The walls had been freshly painted; mythical creatures now sported on new frescos decorating those walls in addition to the ceilings. The complex was back to its original splendour, and as a result was almost constantly occupied by either the inhabitants of the inn or by people from the town.

Buffy noticed that she and Willow had lucked in, the baths, for some reason, were deserted allowing the two of them some much needed, and missed, privacy. As she slipped into the warm water Buffy let out a soft sigh that dissolved days of tension away from her, "this is exactly what I need." Buffy then lay with her head on the edge of the sunken bath, pillowed on a rolled up towel, and her body floating out over the water.

"Is that all you need," asked Willow, as she stood, naked, over her lover at the edge of the bath.

Buffy looked up to see her lover's muscular legs straddling her head. She continued her upward gaze to see Willow's legs join at her dark and inviting cleft, before her body flared out at her hips into the swell of her pregnancy. Buffy noted the pale pink lines, indicating Willow's stretch marks, running along side of her belly, and the thick black line running from the patch of light red hair before disappearing over the swollen abdomen. In the distance, Buffy could see the rounded swell of her spouse's breasts, now ready to provide the needed nourishment to her soon to be borne child, and Willow's face, framed in a mass of long red hair. Willow had taken her hair down, and had taken it out of the braids that usually imprisoned it.

Buffy's breath caught in her throat as she whispered, "lovely. You are a vision that I will never tire of."

"I just bet you say that to all the girls," said Willow. She looked down at her lover, her long blond hair escaping the casual braid in which it had been placed that morning to float out over the water and sparkling with reflected sunlight. She saw the swell of her breasts, which rounded to peaks of dark-brown, tipped with thick red nipples. She admired the swell of Buffy's pregnancy, and sighed softly when she saw the proof of the Goddess's favour in the tattoo of the flaming red sword, which started between the slayer's breasts, continuing over her abdomen with the point of the sword out of view, hidden by the pregnancy.

She moved beside Buffy before also slipping into the water, exhaling softly as her body entered the warm water, "you were right, love, this is exactly what we needed."

"Soon," said Buffy, "soon it will be over."

"Not over, just a new beginning."

"Yeah, you're right, a massive new beginning."

The two young women then lay in silence, enjoying the soporific effect of the warm water. Before long, they were in a semi-sleep state, relaxed and not worrying about anything at all.

$Lover,$ said Buffy.

$Yes?$

$What do you really think it's going to be like?$

Willow slowly swung her legs down from where they had been floating and sat on one of the benches that had been installed along the inside of the bath.

"Don't know," she said after reflecting for a few moments, "It's not something that mom and I ever really talked about."

"All mom ever told me was that it was painful," said Buffy, as she too sat up in the water, turning on the bench to face her lover, "I'm scared."

"We'll have Amana, Bridie and Aiofe, not to mention our skills at self healing," said Willow, "we'll be ok."

"But, we probably won't have each other," said Buffy, embracing Willow in a bear hug. Buffy was giving voice to the prevailing, unsaid, belief that, given the way their pregnancies had gone so far, they would go into labour at the same time, and most likely deliver within seconds of each other.

"We will be together," said Willow, "I promise."

She then began to lightly kiss her lover, starting at the curve of her neck and working her way along Buffy's breastbone. She then moved lower and planted several soft kisses along the underside of each breast before she moved upwards and gently sucked in an engorged nipple, tickling it with her tongue.

"I just love your new shape," said Willow pausing for a moment from her suckling, "so much more to enjoy."

"Be gentle, they are very sore today."

"Don't I know it," said Willow, as she once again bent down to blow softly on each of Buffy's erect nipples.

"That feels so nice," said the slayer, closing her eyes, "don't stop, it has been so long."

For the last month or so Buffy and Willow had not been able to do much to relieve each other's sexual needs. They were unable to find a position that was comfortable for both of them, due to the pregnancy-induced changes in their bodies. They had therefore resorted to brief snatches of pleasure; they had also made due with their various magical skills, but it wasn't the same as the actual touch of their lover's fingers and tongue. They hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks, and even falling asleep in each other's arms was no longer possible. This situation had led to very frustrated, and horny, women.

Buffy moaned as the efforts of her lover began to have an effect on her body. She noticed that her breath was becoming shallow, and that the fine hairs on her body were all erect, "damn," she thought, "she's only paying attention to my breasts. What's going to happen if she moves her attention somewhere else?"

$You'll pop like a firecracker,$ said Willow, smiling as she did so, $that is my intention.$

$Please,$ whimpered Buffy, as sweat began to bubble from her skin, $please don't make me beg.$

$I'm not that cruel,$ said Willow as she began to roll each of Buffy's nipples with her fingers while she licked and kissed her way down her lover's body, $at least not today, I'm not.$

Willow proceeded to flick Buffy's bellybutton, which had become an outie, with her tongue before beginning to kiss the dark line on the slayer's abdomen.

"Float your legs again," said Willow, "that'll allow me to access you properly."

As Buffy complied with her lover's request, Willow moved out deeper into the pool, and then between Buffy's floating legs.

"That's better," said Willow, "now our bloated bellies won't be in the way."

Willow reached underneath and raised Buffy's thighs and crotch up out of the water, supporting them with her hands and with the water; she then moved forward towards her goal, like a shark moving towards a wounded fish. She began to alternately kiss and nibble each thigh, moving ever so slowly towards the centre of her lover's pleasure. Soon she was licking at Buffy's labia, leaving long wet trails that she then blew dry, in order to prolong the pleasure, and the anticipation. Buffy was now squirming, whimpering and trying to find release and Willow was having a difficult time keeping the object of her desire above the water. Just as Buffy thought she would die from the anticipation Willow licked and then sucked on her clitoris. Buffy climaxed, then as Willow continued her ministrations, climaxed again. Willow released her hold on Buffy and allowed her to relax, sitting once again at the edge of the bath.

"That was wonderful," said Buffy, embracing her lover in a hug, "the perfect way to end a relaxing bath."

Buffy kissed her spouse, and lightly nibbled on her lips. Willow responded by using her tongue to paint Buffy's teeth before engaging in a tongue battle. They continued in this manner, making love to each other's mouth for several, long, moments before breaking the kiss and moving slightly apart.

Buffy reached out and softly stroked Willow's long red hair saying, "You know that I love you more than anything."

"Ditto. Now it's your turn to give me release."

Buffy agreed, and by duplicating Willow's efforts in the pool, stimulated her lover to a series of orgasms. Just as Willow was coming off her last climax she said, "Goddess, there you go again, tripping my breakers."

"Only because I love you."

The idea of breakers chased around in Willow's mind for a while as she thought, "damn, this means something, but I can't figure it out."

$Oh, you will. Give it time.$

$Snoop.$

$You still love me though.$

$Always.$

Sated for the moment, the two women then continued their lazy lounging in the bath, trying to get their tired, sore, muscles to relax. Just as they were beginning to drift of to sleep their solitude was interrupted by the arrival of Bridie and Aiofe.

"There you are," said Bridie, as she came into the bath carrying several large towels. Turning to look over her shoulder she continued, "Found them."

"Skipping out on us again were they," asked Aiofe also entering the room.

"Just you wait," said Buffy, getting out of the bath before turning to help Willow, "you'll find out for yourselves, oh in about four months or so, what it's like."

Aiofe and Bridie were now about four and a half months along, and were beginning to show signs of their own pregnancies.

"What is it," asked Willow, with a little bit of pique in her voice as she began to dry off with one of the towels, "what major emergency needs my attention now? The cooks spill a bowl of soup, or is it something else?"

"Grael thinks that he has a breakthrough with the demon," said Bridie, "Amana sent us to find you."

"Major cool," said Willow, all annoyance gone from her voice, "let's go." Willow began to pace rapidly out of the room heading for the connecting passage.

"Oh love," said Buffy.

"Yes?"

"You might want to get dressed first."

"Oh! Yes."

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Later that morning Willow, along with Buffy and Amana, met Grael at the entrance to the isolation cell. It was not the door to the room in which the demon Hugh had been imprisoned; rather it was the door to a small antechamber just before the cell itself. Grael had explained this set-up as a requirement to keep Hugh from obtaining any clue about his surroundings. The small annex allowed Grael to approach Hugh, without giving any hints about the time of day, and also to clandestinely observe the demon. Grael never actual entered Hugh's cell, he simply conversed through a portal in Hugh's cell door.

"I think it's time," said Grael as the three women came down the stairs into the cellar, "he's very compliant and cooperative."

"Excellent," said Buffy, "what do we do now?"

"Well the four of us will go into the outer-room, it'll be a tight fit but we should all manage, then I will begin to ask a few questions." Willow's command group had prepared a list of questions, which Grael had memorized.

"What if we need clarification on a question," asked Willow, "how do we do that?"

"This is not going to be a quick process," said Grael, "it will take a few days to get all of our answers. So, if you think of anything just let me know at the briefing and I'll add it to the next session's question list."

The four humans then entered the annex and after they had shut the outer door, Grael opened the small portal and called out, "Hugh, I'm back."

"Where were you?"

"Just away for a few minutes. Now, tell me who is your friend?"

"You are."

"And you'd do anything for your friend, now wouldn't you?"

"I want to."

"Good. Now I have a couple of questions. Would you like to answer them?"

"Yes."

"Well, if you do, I might be able to help you. Would you like that?"

"Oh, yes, I would."

"Ok, let's begin," said Grael, who paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and then continued, "Now Hugh, you are a demon aren't you?"

"Yes, but you knew that."

"And you have been bound to a master?"

"Yes, my dreaded lord."

"Where is your lord?"

"At his castle."

"Where is that?"

"South, I do not know how far."

Grael had begun with a number of simple questions, designed to make Hugh comfortable with the situation, and allow him to open up to Grael. After another series of these simple questions and answers Grael was ready to proceed to a set of more pertinent questions.

He said, "Now Hugh, you've been very cooperative so far. I'm very happy and pleased with you."

"Thank you. I want to help you."

"That's good. Now what were you doing in the mountains?"

"Looking for the slayer."

"Why were you looking for the slayer?"

"To kill her."

"I understand that Hugh. But why did you want to kill her?"

"My commander and our master ordered it?"

"Who is your commander?"

"The demon Junulak."

"Where is this Junulak?"

"Don't know, he and Talor went one way to look for the slayer and her companions, and I went the other."

"That's good Hugh. I'm finished for now, but I'll be back soon. Will you continue to help me?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, Hugh. I'll talk to you soon. Good night."

"Good night," said the demon. Hugh was unaware that it was nearly noon, and was going only on the clues that Grael was deliberately planting. When Grael returned later that day after lunch, he would continue that pattern of deception by implying that it was morning, even though only an hour or so had in reality passed.

Grael closed the portal in the cell door before opening the door to the annex.

"Excellent first session," said Amana, "it appears to be going well."

"Nothing really new," said Willow.

"But he is cooperating," said Grael, "and he did confirm a few things that we had suspected. We will get more direct information after lunch and over the next few days or so."

"He also gave the impression that they were primarily looking for you, Buffy," said Amana.

"What comfort."

-------------------------------

At lunch neither Buffy nor Willow were particularly hungry. They simply picked at, and played with, their food since both of their stomachs were very upset. The talk at the table centred on the breakthrough with Hugh, and suggestions were made on how to continue the questioning; however, neither the slayer nor the arch-mage contributed much to the conversation, preferring to sit, starring into space. This lack of attention by the two young women on the proceedings at the table was not lost on Amana.

"You two ok," she asked, "you haven't eaten a thing."

"Not that hungry," said Willow, petting and stroking Shadow-Cat who had shown up demanding to have attention paid to her, "tummy is a bit tender."

"Same here," added Buffy, "actually the sight of food is kind of sickening."

"Grael," said Amana.

"Yes, what is it?"

"You are going to have to proceed alone this afternoon," said Amana, getting up from the table and motioning for Bridie and Aiofe to join her, "Buffy and Willow appear to be in early labour, so I'm going to check on them. If so, I'm going to be a bit busy for the rest of the day."

As if that was a signal, suddenly both young women felt a powerful contraction. Earlier in their pregnancy they had felt Braxton-Hicks contractions numerous times, but those were nothing compared to the first experience of the real thing; both Buffy and Willow stood from the table, holding their stomachs, and said, "oh boy. It's time."

"Meow," agreed Shadow-Cat, pleased that her human was about to have her kitten.

"Just think," said Aiofe helpfully, as she was getting up from the table, to move over to support Buffy, "they're going to get worse."

"Joy! Bliss! Happiness!" Said Buffy, as she and Aiofe began to walk towards the baths, "just wait, you're going to have the same thing to look forward to, and I'll be there to laugh."

Amana led Buffy and Willow, along with their birthing partners, back to the baths. Both women had decided, after much consultation with Amana, to have water births. The deciding factor was when Amana had indicated that one of the advantages to this birthing method was that it was less stressful on both the mothers and the babies. They had taken one of the extra rooms in the bath complex and converted it into a relaxing birthing room; complete with a number of comfortable chairs and a bed so that Amana could examine the expectant mothers. The warm bath, in which Willow and Buffy had recently relaxed, had had an apparatus built into it, to support Buffy and Willow, and so that all members of the birthing team would have something to hold onto while the babies were delivered.

As they entered the birthing room, both women experienced another powerful contraction. Once it had passed, Amana turned to Aiofe and asked, "What do you think; five minutes or so, and about forty seconds in duration?"

"Sounds about right, but what does that mean?"

"About another four or five hours, at a minimum."

"What," squealed both Buffy and Willow, "four more hours?"

"At least," said Amana, "now let's get you, one at a time, up on the bed so I can see just how far along you are."

Buffy and Willow were helped by their coaches out of their restrictive clothing and into soft, warm, linen shifts. They would have been cold, except for the fireplace billowing out heat, and the in-floor pipes that carried hot water from the boiler to the baths, which radiated heat into the room.

Amana examined both women and when she was finished turned to them and said, "Ok, up on your feet and get walking. The more you walk, using gravity to help, the faster you will progress. You are both at three centimetres and about twenty percent effaced, so things are moving along nicely."

Amana then turned to Aiofe and Bridie and continued with, "you two walk with them, and support them when they have a contraction. If they lose their plugs, or if their water breaks, get them back here. Now, I'm going to go and arrange for food and drink to be delivered by Lynda and the other cooks on a fairly regular basis."

"But," said Buffy, "where do we walk?"

"Here, in the corridors, in the inn. It doesn't matter as long as you stay warm, and keep walking. I'll examine you again in about an hour or so, and see how things are going."

The foursome began to make numerous circuits around the inn, accompanied by Shadow-Cat who kept pace with their every step. They were required to stop ever every four or five minutes to endure another contraction; Buffy and Willow held each other during the contractions, each trying to be strong for the other. After an hour or so, they returned to the birthing room so that Amana could examine them. They were informed that they had dilated to four centimetres and that they were progressing very rapidly. They were ordered back on their walking circuit since it appeared to be helping the process along nicely.

The rest of the inn's inhabitants, with the exception of the cooks and Grael, slowly started to stop their activities and began to gather in the common room, to wait for news on Buffy and Willow's progress. They passed the time in the usual manner, by eating, drinking and making bet on the time of birth and the size of the babies, since all were aware that Willow and Buffy would be having girls.

Six hours later, the repetitive walking tour of the inn was interrupted by both Buffy and Willow's water breaking, along with losing their mucus plugs. They brought the cheerful news to Amana, since it might mean a respite, or even an end to the continuous walking. They were all ecstatic to learn that the expectant mothers were one hundred percent effaced and had dilated to eight or so centimetres. Amana informed them all that it was time to get naked and into the water, to get ready for, and to deliver, their babies.

"Finally," said Willow, with no small amount of exhaustion evident in her voice, "it was getting hard to walk with the contractions coming every three minutes."

"No kidding," agreed Buffy, "the end is in site... maybe."

Shortly the five women were in the pool, with a very concerned Shadow-Cat watching from the edge of the bath and pacing back and forth. Buffy and Willow were side by side, supported by the special bench which had been built into the pool for this purpose. Aiofe and Bridie began to actively coach the expectant mothers through their contractions, encouraging them to breathe properly both through and with the contractions. Both Buffy and Willow began to use their bio-feedback skills to control the pain, while maintaining control and awareness of their bodies and what was happening. The warm, nearly hot, water was having its beneficial effect. It had softened and had helped to relax all of the tissues and muscles around the cervix and vaginal passage of both young women, thereby nearly eliminating the chances of tears. After nearly forty minutes in the bath the contractions were longer and much closer together, almost without respite, both young women had fully entered transition. Amana examined both of them and said that they were nearly fully dilated.

"Ok ladies," she said, "I know this is going to be hard, but don't push until I tell you."

"How much longer," asked Willow, panting through another contraction, "I have this overwhelming need to push."

"Two or three more contractions should do it."

$How are you doing sweetie,$ asked Willow.

$About the same as you.$

$Over soon.$

$Let's hope,$ said Buffy reaching over to grasp her lover's hand.

Five minutes later, after Amana had finished one more examination, she looked up and said, "ok, this is how we are doing it. Both of your babies are crowning, so on the next contraction I want the two of you to take a deep breath, hold it and push evenly."

"Here comes the contraction," she said, "now remember to push evenly. Aiofe, get over here to help with Buffy's baby."

With concentrated effort, Buffy and Willow were able to push evenly and they were rewarded with the news that both babies' heads were now out.

"Now hold on for a moment and don't push," said Amana, "I know that is going to be hard, but I've got to help with the shoulders." A few minutes later, she said, "ok, now push and let's get these babies delivered."

With that, both Willow and Buffy gave one last push and delivered their babies into the waiting hands of Aiofe and Amana. Both women passed up the newborns to lie on their mothers' chests before they rubbed the babies' backs to start their breathing.

Both girls let out hearty howls, as they took their first breaths of life. A hearty meow from a relieved familiar joined the babies' cry.

$Happy,$ asked Willow.

$Ecstatic.$

$So is Shadow-Cat,$ said Willow, $I'm getting nothing but waves of happy vibes from her.$

"Time," said Amana.

"Nine seventeen," replied Bridie.

Aiofe and Bridie then quickly grabbed warm towels and wrapped the babies, as Amana tied and cut the umbilical cords.

Both Willow and Buffy looked down at the life that they had produced. They saw perfect, beautiful babies. From the full head of flaming red hair, to the tips of their little pink toes, both girls were flawlessly formed. The babies, after their initial howls of protest over the indignity of being born, had settled in and were staring up at their mothers.

"Hello Kendra," said Willow softly, staring into her daughters deep blue eyes, while she lightly stroked her daughter's damp hair, "welcome to the world."

"Hello Faith," said Buffy, running her fingers along her daughter's arm, and having her finger grabbed in a tiny fist, "I'm your mommy."

After a few minutes, both babies were taken by Aiofe and Bridie to be cleaned up and wrapped in thick blankets, before being placed into a basinet. While that was going on Willow and Buffy were helped out of the pool by Amana, to sit on the side of it on thick towels, in order to deliver their placentas.

Once that final task of the birthing process was completed, Buffy and Willow were carefully bathed and redressed in thick warm clothing, before being led back to the common room of the inn, on the way to their own room to get some much needed rest. As they entered the inn they received the hearty congratulations of everyone in the room. They took a few moments to present their daughters to the assembled members of Willow's strike force, and the townspeople who happened to be in the inn.

-------------------------------

Later that evening, after she had settled the new mothers and their newborns, Amana made her way done to the kitchen, to scrounge herself a late supper. She wasn't all that surprised to see Grael sitting in the common room, with a mug of warm cider waiting for her.

"Well they're healthy," she said as she sat down across from Grael, "and they are sleeping, all four of them."

"What about Aiofe and Bridie?"

"They've pulled a cot into the room so that they won't disturb Buffy and Willow. They are asleep also. Along with one very self satisfied cat."

"Any problems."

"None at all, worry wart. It was a flawless delivery, both babies are healthy, and a good size, nearly four kilos."

"That's good news," said Grael, getting up from the table and heading over to the bar in order to refill their mugs, "now what?"

"Now I eat, and grab a nap before heading back up in a couple of hours. The babies will be awake, and hungry."

"It's going to be a busy few days," said Grael, sitting back down at the table and passing over Amana's mug.

"You're not kidding. By the way, how did the afternoon session with Hugh go?"

"Pretty good actually. He started to open up a little bit."

"But," asked Amana.

"I'm just thinking. What do we do once we have what we need?"

"We escort him, blindfolded, to the southern pass and release him."

"Is that just? I mean, he is a demon, he was spying on us, and he did arrange for the attack on Buffy and Willow."

Amana got up from the table and began to pace before one of the fireplaces. She stared into the fire and said, "We can't just kill him. I'd have cheerfully slit his throat back in the Capital, or if we were in combat, but if we just cold-bloodily kill him now we are no better than he is."

"Might be difficult," said Grael, "Buffy is still out for blood."

"We will make her see reason. Now I'm for a quick nap, care to join me?"

The two senior mages turned down the lamps in the common room and made their way up the stairs to their room. Fortunately it was not that far from Buffy and Willow's room, so that Amana would be able to reach the new mothers quickly if the need arose.

-------------------------------

Early the next morning, five or more hours before dawn, both new mothers were awakened by the pleas of hunger from their daughters. Rubbing the sleep from their eyes, Buffy and Willow slowly got out of bed, before turning back to pick up their babies, who had been sleeping between them.

"There, there, love," said Willow, "everything is ok."

"It's ok Faith," said Buffy, "mommy is here. What's wrong?"

"They are hungry, and need to be changed," said Amana as she entered the room, with fresh linen, "now lets get them changed and then on the breast."

Twenty minutes later, there were two clean babies, one of whom was contentedly feeding while the other was still fussing and crying.

"I'm a total doofus," said Willow, "why can't I get her to take the breast?"

"You will," reassured Amana, "it just sometimes takes a little time, that's all."

"Then why was wonder mother over there able to figure it out so soon," said Willow, petulance, and exhaustion, in her voice, "I'll never get this to work."

$Relax love,$ said Buffy, $you are so tense, is it any wonder you are having problems.$

$I know. But it's so frustrating. This is something that is totally natural, so why can't I do it?$

$With Amana's help, you will work it out. But meantime, I have a suggestion.$

$Yes?$

$Let me feed Kendra, at least a little bit. She will calm down with some food, and then you can relax and try again.$

Willow thought the idea over for a few moments, with Buffy fully aware of her internal debate. Finally, common sense, and her desire to do what was best for her baby won out and she agreed, $ok. It makes sense.$

Willow then turned to Amana, who with the lack of sleep was beginning to nod off, and said, "Amana, Buffy asked, and I agreed, to feed Kendra."

Amana thanked the Goddess. If Willow's inability to breastfeed had gone on much longer, she would have been forced to suggest this action. Amana had resisted to that point, fearing Willow's reaction. "That is an excellent suggestion," she said, "and I have another."

"Anything," said Willow, "I'll try anything."

"While Buffy feeds Kendra, and you hold Faith, I'm going to run downstairs and grab you a glass of brandy. The alcohol will help relax you."

An hour later things had settled down. Willow was sitting in a large armchair before the fire, having finally been able to get Kendra to latch on, no longer feeling like a failure, happily watching her daughter eat. Buffy and Faith had fallen back asleep and Amana was nodding off in another chair beside Willow. Meanwhile Aiofe and Bridie arranged an early breakfast for everyone on one of the dressers.

"There, that should keep until later, when we get up," said Aiofe as she covered up a dish of sliced fruit.

"Aiofe love," said Willow, "would you be a dear and bring me something. I have a bottomless pit for a stomach."

"How are you doing," asked Aiofe, bringing over a plate of fruit and cheese.

"Wonderful. I've never been happier."

"What do you mean," asked Bridie, as she curled up at the foot of Willow's chair, leaning back on the arch-mage's legs.

"It's just now that I feel my life is complete. With Buffy and now with our children, everything seems to be finally falling into place."

That statement led Willow to once again think, "that means something, somehow it's important, but I just don't know how or what yet."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough I guess," said Bridie, "the wait is tough though."

Kendra finished feeding, detached from the breast and looked up at her mother with a little 'plop' as the suction broke. Willow stared down, and said softly, "Hi. I'm your mommy, and I am going to always be here for you. I'll keep you from harm, safe from the monsters under the bed and the demons in the dark."

Willow was speaking not only of the metaphorical monsters of childhood, but also of the monsters she knew were real. Her daughter rewarded her mother's devotion with a burp, and a small amount of drool.

"How cute," said Aiofe, stifling a giggle.

"Talk about no respect," said Willow, cleaning her daughter before placing her over her shoulder for a proper burp, "here I am, professing my unending commitment, and all I get is drool for my efforts."

"Well," said Bridie, getting up from the floor, "Kendra has continued her respect for her mother by falling asleep, so I think that it is time for the two of you to get back to bed."

"But, it's nearly morning," said Willow, smothering a yawn, "I've got to get the day going."

"No you don't love," replied Aiofe, relieving Willow of her daughter, "what you have to do is get some sleep."

"Yes boss," said Willow climbing into bed. "Are you going to tuck me in too?"

"Only if you promise to be good," said Aiofe, placing Kendra between her parents.

"I promise," answered the arch-mage as she drifted off to sleep, joining her lover and their children.

"That's that," said Bridie, "now why don't you and I see about getting ourselves cleaned up, and fed?"

"That sounds good to me."

-------------------------------

The next few days followed a predictable pattern. Buffy and Willow were allowed, almost ordered, to keep their activities to a minimum, spending their time learning to care for their daughters, resting and bathing. Aiofe and Bridie spent their time helping the new mothers, and keeping them from trying to do too much, too soon. Within the week, both Buffy and Willow had managed to regain most of their energy, and their daughters were sleeping for nearly four hours between feedings.

Willow was still having occasional problems with getting Kendra to take the breast, therefore Buffy continued to provide her assistance. However, by the end of the week, both Willow and her daughter had become sufficiently adept at the feeding ritual that they were having very few problems.

"I think that I'm finally beginning to catch up on my sleep," said Buffy stretching her arms above her head as she sat up in bed.

"You never needed much sleep," commented Willow, as she burrowed deeper under the comforters snuggling up to two warm bundles, "I, on the other hand, need my sleep."

"No you don't sleepyhead. It's time to get up and face the living; time to get back to work."

"Don't want to."

"Yes you do," said Buffy, as she began the process of stripping the bed, having first transferred her daughters to their crib, "besides, both Amana and Grael said that they would fill us in on Grael's interrogation of Hugh."

"That's right," said Willow, reluctantly getting out of bed, "how about I race you to the baths?"

Both women headed for the baths, passing Aiofe on the way. Willow turned to the other woman and said, "Aiofe, my lover and I are off to the baths. Could you keep an eye on our two sleeping beauties until we get back?"

"No problemo."

An hour or so later, Buffy and Willow, along with their daughters who were asleep in carry slings, were back downstairs having breakfast, for the first time in a week, in the inn's common room. They spent a good portion of their time catching up on things, while showing off their children like the proud parents they were. Everyone, once they had had a chance to meet with the new mothers, and to provide their congratulations, gradually left the room, heading off to get their various activities for the day underway.

As if it had been planned, Amana and Grael ended up at the table just as the last of the well-wishers left.

"Hi Grael," said Buffy, "what's up?"

"This and that," replied the mage as he took a seat at the table, "you two are looking better today." Grael had, as a matter of courtesy, been by to see both young women and their children several times since the birth.

"Thanks," said Willow, "we are; now Amana said that you have finished with Hugh."

"That's right."

"And," asked Buffy.

"Where to begin," said Grael.

"Well, as my mother is fond of saying," said Willow, "at the beginning, and finish at the end."

"Okay then," said Grael, "I've continued my discussions with Hugh over the last week and I think that I've been able to wring him dry. I was able to learn a few things of interest, particularly on slayers and on the transport between worlds."

"Such as," asked Willow, her interest immediately peaked.

Grael then began to debrief Willow and Buffy. He indicated that once he had begun to talk Hugh had been very informative and forthcoming. He had indicated that he was over two hundred years old, and had originated on a world far removed from this one. He had been summoned to this world, ten years ago, once the demon leadership here had put the final touches on their plan for world domination. He had gone on to reveal that while to outsiders demons appeared unorganised and antagonistic towards each other, in reality they were all part of a network of clans who worked together at a high level to subjugate new worlds. When asked why this was so, Hugh had indicated that the original worlds from which the various demons originated were desolated shells, devoid of all forms of energy, yet still home to millions of inhabitants. They used the hell-mouths as portals from one world to the next, and as a means of draining the energy from a target world, to support the demon's home worlds.

Willow had sat pensively during the debrief, mulling over what Grael was sayings, and trying to draw conclusions in her mind between everything. She was attempting to make correlations between what she had already discovered, or deduced, and this new information.

After a few minutes she turned to Buffy and asked, "Thoughts love?"

"Only one; and that is why they were so determined to find me."

"Grael," asked Willow.

The mage then continued recounting the information that had been given to him by the demon. He said that Hugh was not that knowledgeable about slayers, and why precisely they had been hunting for her, but that the demon leaders had given specific instructions to find the slayer, and kill her. He was also aware that the demons considered slayers to be the primary threat to their existence, and that they took steps to eradicate them as soon as they could on any new world, even though that could take several generations and thousands of lives to accomplish. He also knew that they started the process of slayer removal on a world centuries before the leadership had plans to attack it.

"That means whatever they are doing, they are doing already back home," said Buffy.

"If only we knew what it was they did," said Willow, "once we return we could figure out a way to stop it."

"That will be a problem for later," said Buffy, turning back to Grael, "did the scumbag have anything else to say?"

"Nothing of any real substance."

"Good," said Buffy getting up from the table, "demon disposal time."

"That won't be possible," said Amana softy.

"What do you mean," asked Willow.

"We let him go," replied Grael, "we blindfolded him, and two days ago Sonya and Daithi led him through the southern passes."

"Why," said Buffy the anger dripping from her voice, and her body tensing with suppressed rage, "after all that he was responsible for."

"To do otherwise," said Amana "would be to bring us down to his level. This way, he's on his own, without resources, to cope as best he can."

Neither Buffy or Willow were fully convinced by the older mages arguments, however, they didn't want to push the issue just then.

"However," said Amana, breaking into the tension that had arisen between herself and Buffy, "on a brighter note, we do have one thing to plan."

"And that would be," said Buffy, standing up from the table and beginning to pace in front of the fireplace.

"Your daughters' naming."

Willow and Buffy had in fact thought this one over and had already come to a conclusion on this matter. Willow said, "We've thought this over, and we'll do it at the solstice in two weeks."

"Excellent idea," said Grael, "have you finished working out the details, since I'm assuming you will lead?"

"Nearly. Just a few things left to work out."

The next two weeks flew by for the new mothers. It was as if the hours in a day evaporated before their eyes. Some days they had so much to do with their daughters, it was all they could do to make time to have a bath, let alone get anything else accomplished. Buffy was still not happy with Amana and Grael's decision to let the demon Hugh go free, her body language screamed its rage every time she talked about it to the senior mages. However, she realized that there was nothing she could do about it, and resolved to live with the situation, since she was far to wrapped up in helping to care for a couple of very demanding little girls.

At one point Buffy turned to her spouse and said, "How do single moms do it? I mean we have each other, Aiofe, Bridie and Amana and there still aren't enough hours in the day."

"I know," said Willow, "Amana keeps saying that it's going to get better, once the two of them start to sleep longer; but right now I'm having difficulty believing her."

Soon it was solstice day, the day with the shortest amount of light, the time to celebrate light, and the steady return of longer hours of sunshine until the earth brought forth her bounty in the spring. In keeping with the day it dawned bright, wind free, cloudless and bitterly cold.

It would be a long day, and even longer night, for the solstice ritual would last from sunset to sunrise. It would be followed by twelve days of gift giving and celebrations as the community once again welcomed the birth of the infant sun, the eventual triumph of spring over winter and as an excuse to have fun in the bleakest time of the year.

Willow and the others all took it easy during the day, with everyone getting at least a few hours of sleep in the afternoon. With a half hour to go before sunset, everyone in the village assembled in the common room of the inn.

Willow waited until they had all settled before beginning the evenings work with the traditional, "Blessed be."

After she had obtained everyone's attention she continued, "This is the Yule. This is the longest night of the year, the night before the sun's rebirth. This is the night in which we face the darkness, and rejoice in its defeat. The night which begins our celebration of life, and the anticipation of the earth's rebirth in the spring."

Willow went on to explain the ritual for the night, and how she and the others in the circle would be sitting vigil for the sun all night. She said that everyone who wished was welcome to stay, but she understood if they nodded off at some point. She explained that the altar was bare, except for the unlit Yule log, a bowl of spring water and a vial of oil, and that the watchtower candles would remain dark. She indicated that the guardians would not be called until the rebirth of the sun at dawn. She finished her discourse by saying that as soon as the prayers for the new sun were finished that they would be having the naming ceremony for Kendra and Faith.

By this time it was nearly time, so everyone in the circle took their places, waiting for Willow, Buffy and Grael to begin. Buffy was acting as Willow's ritual partner, while Grael would be taking the role of High Priest. Aiofe and Bridie were tasked with holding the babies until they could be returned to their mothers for the vigil.

The circle, complete with its chalk runes, had already been drawn on the floor, and all of the other elements for the ritual were in place. Willow stood with Buffy and Grael and just as the sun dipped under the western horizon began the night's work with, "Blessed be."

Everyone replied, "Blessed be."

Willow then continued with, "We are gathered in this time and this place to celebrate the continued dance of the celestial clock. It is the longest night, let us stand vigil, face our fears, and prey for the rebirth of the sun."

Willow then began the ritual breathing chants, to centre the circle and to prepare everyone for the raising of energy. Once everyone had settled, Willow and Grael cast the circle and then began to pour the risen energy into it.

They then cast the opening prayers, inviting the God and Goddess into their work, and asking for their blessing and assistance for the work ahead. Once they had completed the opening. Willow then led the invocation for the death of the old sun, which began the vigil. Members of the circle then sat down, to prepare themselves for the long night ahead. They prayed, and examined their own soul to find balance in their life.

While this was happening, throughout the inn and the village, the lamps were extinguished, and the fires banked.

Buffy sat quietly on a cushion late in the night, well after midnight but with hours yet to go before the dawn, gently rocking her daughter back to sleep after having fed and changed her. She was thinking about life and the changes that had happened over the last ten months. She thought about the burdens that she had been placed under, and the joy in the fulfilment of her life with Willow, their daughters and with Aiofe and Bridie. She slowly came to the realization that Amana and Grael had been right to release Hugh. That if she had sunk to his level and killed him that she would have been discarding every oath that she had taken on behalf of the Goddess. With that realization, Buffy achieved an inner peace, which was reflected in the total relaxation of her body. Everyone in the circle had been aware of Buffy's torment over the Hugh situation, and everyone noticed when she relaxed, indicating that the slayer had found an internal solution.

Finally, Willow indicated that they should all stand, to finish the ritual and welcome the birth of the sun. After allowing everyone a few minutes to stretch out the kinks in their muscles, she began the closing of the ritual with, "Blessed be, it is time."

She then continued with the invocation to the new sun, as she said, "Queen of the sun.

"Queen of the moon.

"Queen of the horns.

"Queen of fire.

"Bring to us your child, the child of light, the child of promise.

"You are the great Mother

"You give life to him.

"He is the Lord, the Lord of Light.

"He has died, and is born again this day.

"Darkness, fear, tears and anguish are set aside, once your son is born again.

"Golden Sun.

"You light the hills, and the fields. You light the earth and the water.

"You light the sky and are the source of all fire."

As Willow finished the prayer, Grael went to stand before the altar, he then said a quiet prayer before lighting the Yule log, which had been resting on it. Then he took a taper, used the fire from the recently lit log, and went around the circle, to light the watchtower candles.

Once that task had been completed, Willow invoked the guardians and asked for their assistance for the naming of the two new children in their community.

Grael moved to the edge of the circle, since the remainder of the work would be conducted by Buffy and Willow. Aiofe and Bridie came to the centre and held the babies while Buffy and Willow performed the naming ritual.

Willow centred herself, and gathered back the energy in the circle and said, "Goddess, in all of your majesty and wonder, we ask that you cast your blessing on our children, and become a friend to them."

Buffy then continued, "Guardian of the East. Giver of air, and herald of spring, I ask that you cast your blessing on our children and become a friend to them."

Willow and Buffy continued to ask the guardians to bless their children and then Willow finished the invocation of blessings by saying, "Goddess, until they are old enough to chose their own path, we ask that you watch over them and keep them safe from harm."

Willow indicated to Aiofe and Bridie to unwrap the babies, so that they could begin the anointing of the children. Buffy and Willow then took the spring water and oil from the altar, stood before their children, and said, "Water on your brows, for your spirit.

"Oil on your lips, for your voices.

"Water on your necks, to keep your words truthful.

"Oil on your chests, to keep you healthy.

"Water on stomachs, to keep your appetite.

"Oil on you sex, to keep your vigour, and for your children to come.

"Water on your thighs, to keep you strong.

"Oil on your knees, to keep you sturdy.

"And, water on your feet, to guide you on your journeys."

Aiofe and Bridie then re-wrapped the girls in thick linen blankets.

Finally, the two new parents performed the five-fold kiss, and said, "Blessed be your eyes, so that you may see clearly.

"Blessed be your ears, so that they may hear the truth of the Goddess's will.

"Blessed be your lips, so that you may speak the truth.

"Blessed be your hands, so that you may help others.

"And, blessed be your feet, so that you may walk in the path of the Goddess, for all of your days."

Everyone in the room then said, "Blessed be, these children. We bring them into our hearts and into our community."

Willow dismissed the Guardians, and the circle. Once this had been accomplished, the Yule fire was brought to a secure place where it would burn continuously for the next twelve days. Members of the community lit their lanterns from this fire, to take home with them so that they could light the lamps and fires in their homes.

Willow walked slowly towards the stairs leading up their room, as she did so she sighed, turned to her spouse and said, "Goddess, I am tired. I don't think I have an erg of energy left in me."

Buffy embraced her lover, and said, "I'm with you on that. Let's grab some food, and recharge our batteries before bed. Once I hit the pillow I think that I'm going to switch off like a light."

"Energy. Switches. Batteries. Recharging. Falling into place. Breakers," exclaimed Willow, "I've finally figured out all those bits and pieces that have been running around in the excuse I have for a mind."

"Yes," asked her slightly confused and exhausted spouse, "just what is it you have figured out?"

"A way to close those cursed portals... forever."

-------------------------------

Far away to the south, a demon master was facing a problem that he had thought had been solved months earlier. Facing him, abased on the ground, was the demon Hugh, trembling in fear.

"So Hugh," said the demon lord, "I'm to believe that you were captured by the slayer and her partner the witch, and imprisoned for the last five months?"

"Yes master."

"And that they just let you go, without you having told them anything?"

"Yes master," replied the demon, sweat running down his body, even though the temperature was barely above freezing.

"And that you have no idea where Junulak or Talor are. Or for that matter the rest of the army you were entrusted with?"

"Yes master."

"Why isn't it that I believe you?" Turning to four of his guards he said, "Take him away and let's see if pain will release the truth from his tongue. Make sure you dispose of the body once you are sure you have all the answers I require."

Hugh was hauled roughly to his feet and dragged out of the room, watched impassively by the demon lord who was trying as hard as he could to keep the fear in his bowels from showing to his subordinates. He knew that unless he was able to resolve this problem quickly that he would soon be sharing the same fate as his former lieutenant.

A/N – thanks again for all of your reviews.


	13. Alea Iacta Est

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter XIII - Alea Iacta Est

(The Die is Cast)

Sleeping peacefully, breathing evenly, little fists clenched in dreams. Two little girls lay entwined together under down comforters that were embroidered with pictures of kittens and bunnies. Watching over them from the foot of the crib was a grey and black cat, pleased with her human's kittens.

"Purr," said Shadow-Cat thinking, "my human has done well. Her kittens are safe with me."

----------------------------------

"Pay attention, damn it," yelled Willow, as she swept Buffy's legs out from underneath her for the third time that morning, "get your mind back here."

Buffy collapsed to the ground before rolling into a ball and springing back up to her feet.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I just finding that it's hard."

"I know it's hard," replied her spouse, "but they've been fed, they're sleeping, Bridie and Aiofe are in the room with them and Shadow-Cat is watching them and I can see them through her eyes."

"Ok," said Buffy, "I'll stay sharp. Let's get back to it."

It was just after dawn and Buffy and Willow were in the training area, with Daithi and some of the new slayers, trying to work off their baby flab and to get back into fighting form.

Buffy moved into an Aikido stance, matched by Willow. They slowly circled each other for a few moments before Buffy moved forward quickly, directing a punch towards Willow's chest. Willow timed her response perfectly and moved around Buffy's punch, before grabbing her outstretched arm and then pivoting around it. She planted her feet, swung Buffy towards her, and rolled the slayer over her back and onto the dirt floor.

"Ooof," said Buffy as she fell to the ground.

"You still aren't here, lover," said Willow, as she returned to a ready stance, "let's get back at it."

Buffy regained her place, and the two young women continued sparing. After a few minutes in which neither woman made any attacks, Willow leaped and directed an attack down towards Buffy's head. Buffy reached forward, grabbed Willow's descending arm and pulled it down and away from her body. Buffy then used the momentum generated to roll Willow over and onto her back.

Willow continued the roll, jumped to her feet, and said, "Better, now you are into it."

They continued to spar for another hour, both women now fully focused. Finally, Willow turned to her lover and said, "Buffy, time to finish. I'm bushed."

"Okay with me. Let's cool down and head for the baths."

Willow and Buffy began their end of workout stretching routine. When they were about halfway through the routine, Willow said, "So what do we want to do tonight?"

It was the third day after the solstice, Christmas Eve back home. The entire community had been celebrating, feasting, gift giving and relaxing since the solstice, and would continue to do so for another nine days, but Buffy and Willow wanted to make this evening special.

"Don't know," said Buffy, "we could get a tree and stuff I suppose."

"And eggnog, carols and stuff. We could make decorations and stuff too."

"Will, girl, you are way into this for a good Jewish Wicca, aren't you?"

"Hey," said Willow, "growing up in Southern Cal. What do you expect?"

They finished their cool down and headed for the baths. Just as they were reaching the bath complex Willow said, "Hey, let's get Aiofe and Bridie in on this. It'll be a blast."

They met with several of the inn's inhabitants in the baths, all of them trying to sweat off the excesses of the last few days.

Buffy looked around and said, "Let's finish up quickly and head back to our room. So we can relax."

"Relax you call it," said Aiofe, as she entered the change room behind Willow and Buffy.

"Yep," said Buffy, "relax."

"What's up," said Willow, as she began to strip off her sweat stained clothing.

"Not too much," said Aiofe, "Bridie and the girls are still sleeping, so I decided to grab a quick bath, and something to eat."

The three women headed for the warm bath, to rinse off the dirt from their bodies before they washed their bodies and hair. Once they had finished bathing, they retired to their change room.

"Oh, before I forget," said Aiofe, "I ran into Amana on the way over here."

"Yes," said Willow, pulling a thick wool shift over her head, "what did she want, and can it wait until this morning's briefing?"

"Yeah. What's come up since she saw us this morning when we were feeding the bottomless pits," added Buffy. She had finished dressing with a heavy linen and wool dress over her shift and was sitting down, pulling up long wool stockings.

"She just wanted to sit with the two of you to go over your plan, Willow," said Aiofe, "she has a few more questions."

"Relaxation waits," said Willow, $sorry lover.$

$It's ok. I'll get you later.$

The three young women headed back to the inn, and reconvened with Amana and Grael in Willow's workroom. The workroom had undergone some additional renovations, and now more fully reflected Willow's character. It had been painted in bright cheery colours, and had had several linen prints plastered onto the walls, creating the effect of large textured paintings or murals. One corner of the room had been converted into a nursery for the two babies, and that section had bright cartoon animals painted onto the walls, near to the floor. They arranged for breakfast to be brought for them, and began the daily briefing session once it had arrived. Willow had opted to start the briefing with only the five of them, and would continue later with the full group.

"Ok," said Willow, "I understand that you want to go over things a bit more."

"That's right," said Amana, "I have a few questions."

"No problem," said the arch-mage, as she spread jam onto a buttered scone, "I'd rather we have all the angles covered rather than forget something important later."

"Why don't we go over everything," said Buffy, "just to make sure everyone is comfortable."

"Yes, why don't we," said Bridie, as she entered the room carrying two little girls, who were awake and looking for their parents.

"What's up sweetie," said Buffy, taking Faith from Bridie's arms, "are you still hungry?"

Faith looked up at her mother and smiled, her cobalt-blue eyes dancing with reflected light, and curiosity.

"Don't think they're hungry," said Bridie, sitting down at the table and pouring herself a glass of milk, after passing Kendra to her mother, "I think that they are just awake and want to be where the action is."

"Well, that's good," said Willow, cuddling her daughter and walking over to the nursery area, "why don't we put you two in your crib here and you can watch your mommies, while they eat."

Minutes later everyone reconvened around the table. Willow waited until they were all settled, with food and drink before them, and then said, "Ok, to continue. After the solstice I finally put together all the bits and pieces that have been running through my mind for the last six months or so, and I think that I have a permanent solution to the hell-mouth problem, at least on this world."

"So much you have already told us," said Grael, "however, you have been a little sparse on the details."

"Except for the part about sending out the new slayers on a search mission," added Amana.

"I need them to find as many mages as possible," said Willow, "preferably second or third degree, but I'll make due with anyone who has power, and some training."

"Why's that," asked Aiofe.

"I got the idea, and the need for the additional mages," said Willow, "based on what we have found out about the hell-mouths. First, they are used both as a transportation network, and as a method for transmitting energy. Second, they have been created, or are being exploited, by demons many realities removed from this one. Third, the demons have to maintain this network. And, fourth, the demons are directly affected when one of them are closed."

"Ok," said Buffy, "I'll bite. What is this leading to?"

"I think that I've figured out a way to short circuit the hell-mouths," said Willow.

Her statement was met with incredulous looks from around the table.

"How," whispered Amana, "and what do you mean by short-circuiting?"

"Well," began Willow, "it has to do with overloading the circuit." Seeing questioning looks from everyone except Buffy, Willow then said, "Energy as it flows from one point to another, using a transportation medium, can be described as a circuit. Each circuit has a limit to how much it can carry, and to what type of energy it can carry. What I'm going to attempt to do is to is overload one section of the circuit, thereby, I hope, causing a feedback loop which should overload all of it."

"Come again," asked Aiofe, still not too clear on the details.

"The way I figure it, the actual hell-mouths are massive energy collectors in the magical realm, and to a lesser extent here in the physical world. Because of this, they will have been heavily shielded by the demon's who created them, and therefore very difficult to overload, as demonstrated when I closed the hell-mouth last spring. However, because they are used as part of a transportation network, they must be linked to each other, using some form of energy conduit. The effort to shield those links would be prohibitive, both in effort and in energy, so what I'm going to do is hack into the network in the middle of one of these links, then funnel a huge amount of energy through the break. This should result in the whole network overloading as the power surge attacks each hell-mouth from within."

"Cool," said Buffy, who was aware of Willow's prodigious abilities with hacking into computer networks, "sort of like a computer virus."

"How? What?" asked Grael.

"That is where the additional mages come in," replied the arch-mage, choosing to respond to Grael's first question, "I am going to need them to help collect the energy, store it and then funnel it to me once I've breached the network. Some of them will also act as my anchors, and others I will use to maintain protections around what I will be doing, so that I don't end up wiping out half the mountains when I start playing with that much energy, or for that matter wipe myself out in a feedback loop."

"Hence your need for Sonya and the rest to find as many mages as possible," said Bridie.

"Yep," replied Willow, "The way I figure it, I'm going to need a full triple circle, with at least half of the members initiated mages."

Just as Willow was finishing the remaining members of her command group came into the workroom to begin the morning briefing. After everyone had grabbed drinks and places around the table Willow began the meeting by saying, "Morning all. For those of you just joining, what you've missed is some additional explanations on why I'm sending out Sonya to find mages. If you want the details, I'll be glad to fill you in later."

Willow proceeded with the rest of the morning's agenda. Finishing the meeting an hour later, she said, "Ok, that's it then. Daithi, would you insure that Sonya and the rest are properly outfitted and provisioned. I would like to see them on their way by lunch time."

"No problem," said Daithi, rising from the table and heading out of the room.

"One other thing."

"Yes," he replied, turning back from the door.

"Could you ask Sonya to come by in an hour or so? I'm going to feed Kendra and then I'd like to brief Sonya on a few last minute things before they leave."

"Ok," said Daithi as he left the room.

The remaining members of the command group also left to begin their day. Aiofe and Grael to help get the search group organized, Frankel to continue his work writing an essay on slayers and slaying. Aiofe and Bridie remained seated at the table; their main job continued to be insuring that neither Buffy nor Willow over exerted themselves.

Buffy remained sitting at the table, across from her friend and lover, and said, "this going to work?"

"Have faith."

"Had Faith," replied Buffy with a smile.

"Buffy," said Aiofe.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind answering a question for me?"

"Ask, and I'll tell you if I mind."

"It's just that we," said Aiofe indicating herself and her lover, "were wondering how you decided on the names for your daughters."

Buffy looked across the table at Willow and asked, $do you want to handle this?$

$Nope, you can field this one.$

Buffy stood up from the table and walked over to the crib where her daughters were lying, staring through the bars. She picked up the children, and holding one in each arm retuned to the table and sat down.

She paused, collected her thoughts and then said, "It's a long story."

Buffy then went on to explain how she and Willow had decided on naming their daughters Kendra and Faith. She began by describing the people that the girls had been named for. Buffy started by telling how Kendra had been called to Sunnydale as a slayer, when it had appeared that she had died. How for a while there were two slayers, and then how Kendra had been killed. Buffy then explained what had happened with Faith. How she had come to Sunnydale as a slayer, and how she had turned from helping Buffy into being an enemy. How she had fallen into a coma, and what had happened just prior to Willow's acceptance to come and help this world.

Having described the people that their daughters were named for, Buffy then went on to explain why they had chosen them as name sources for their daughters. She indicated that both Faith and Kendra, the slayers, had had terrible lives. They had never had the opportunities for a real life, either by being forced from an early life into slayer training, or by growing up in an abusive family. Buffy explained that the pain that the two women had grown up in had distressed both her and Willow. They had therefore decided to name their daughters after them, to try to 'rehabilitate' the names, by giving their daughters the love, support and care that neither Faith nor Kendra had had.

"Rehabilitate," asked Aiofe, curiosity evident in her voice, "why do names need to be rehabilitated?"

"It's just that some of the people we know back home have a problem with the name Faith," said Willow, "especially after what she did to us, and Buffy wanted to try to bring back some respect and honour to the name."

"And Kendra never had a chance back home," added Buffy, "she missed everything in her childhood, and when she was a teenager, things that I got to experience. So this is our attempt to bring back the balance."

Both Kendra and Faith chose that moment to decide that they needed changing, attention and a meal, and began to fuss and wail.

"Mommy time," said Willow, reaching across the table to pick up her fussy daughter, "Aiofe," she said, "would you be a dear and bring over some diapers?"

Both young mothers then set about their now routine task of cleaning their daughters and settling them down to the breast. Willow had just finished Kendra on one side and was in the process of burping her, before offering the other breast, when there was a discreet knock on the door to the workroom.

Willow looked up at Bridie with a 'can you get that,' in her eyes. Bridie opened the door to admit Sonya.

"Is now a good time, Willow," asked Sonya.

Buffy's twin had filled out over the past four months. Her muscles showed the effort of the constant exercise, training and good nutrition that she had experienced. While she was still a far cry from Buffy in her prime, especially with the enhancements precipitated by Buffy being initiated as the Goddess's Avatar, she was a formidable young woman.

"No problem, Sonya," said Willow, "why don't you grab a drink from the sideboard over there and sit. We can talk while I finish up with Kendra here."

Once Sonya had settled, Willow then said, "I just wanted to take some time to chat before you left, to make sure you were comfortable with everything."

"I think we're ready, we have the supplies we need, and have been fully outfitted with arms and armour," replied Sonya, "I do have a question or two though."

"Ask away."

"I know what and why we are going out looking for other mages, at least in the context of our mission. However, I'm not too clear on the why now, in the middle of winter."

Willow spent a moment collecting her thoughts, saying to Buffy, $perceptive isn't she?$ She covered the pause by settling her daughter back on the breast and then replied, "you are the first to ask. I haven't discussed this yet with any of the others."

Buffy, Bridie and Aiofe perked up at Willow's words, and drew their chairs closer to the table, as if to be as close to the arch-mage's words as possible.

"And," said Sonya.

"I think we are running out of time," said Willow.

"How's that," asked Aiofe.

"In my meditations, and spirit travel, I've noticed a massive increase in demon activities lately, not more than two or three weeks or so from here. I think that Amana and Grael's humanity in letting Hugh go free has given too many clues as to our whereabouts to the demon leadership."

"Are we in immediate danger," asked Bridie, the concern in her voice mirrored in her eyes.

"Not just yet, I don't think," replied Willow, "but I foresee that we will be visited by the demons before the end of winter."

"Major bummer," said Buffy.

"That is why I need you to move as quick as you can, Sonya," continued Willow, "and to get back here before the end of January at the latest."

"Five weeks or so," said Sonya, contemplating this new information, and answering the question she had on the amount of supplies she had been given; also thinking about how the time pressure would affect her search for mages.

"Do you have any suggestions on how I should proceed?"

"I think that you should get down the mountain as fast as you can," said Willow, "and get as close to the capital as possible, without attracting any attention from the demons who have laid siege to it. Once you are there, establish a base in one of the surrounding towns and then seek out as many of the mages as you can, and get back here. You know that I can use all the experienced people you can find, but at a minimum, I need you to find eighteen. Amana and Grael have arranged for you to carry extra food, clothing and other items, to be used as you see fit as trade goods, either for the mages I need, or for bribes."

"I won't fail you, Lady," said Sonya, getting up from the table and heading to the door, "you have my word on that."

"I know;" replied Willow gently, "finish getting ready. I'll see you all just before you head out."

Once Sonya had left the room, closing the door behind her, Willow sighed and asked rhetorically, "we are the same age, but why do I feel so much older?"

"Motherhood, and responsibility," said Buffy.

Willow sighed again and said, "I know, it just gets to me sometimes. But, I can't change the past."

Willow stood up from the table, cuddling her nearly asleep daughter, and said, "It's nearly time to see them off. What do we do with our cuddle monsters, take them upstairs, or leave them here?"

"Leave them here," said Buffy, heading over to the crib, "we are going to want to come back after and plan our Christmas Eve, remember?"

"Couldn't forget that," said Willow, joining her spouse in settling their daughters.

"Christmas," asked Aiofe.

"We'll fill you in over lunch, promise," said Buffy as they left the workroom to bid farewell to the slayers.

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Down the mountains, in the demon master's command centre there was a noticeable increase in the work being performed. More work than could be explained by the continued offensive against the human inhabitants of this world. Numerous demons were busy examining and updating operational charts for various aspects of the war, in addition to receiving and relaying movement orders to the different demon armies under the control of this lord. If the charts were examined closely, it would be obvious that a significant amount of his resources were being expended in the mountains to the north, far from any significant concentration of human forces.

The atmosphere in the room chilled perceptibly when the demon master entered.

"Report," he barked to one of his senior lieutenants.

"Nothing so far my lord," said a yellow skinned demon, who was standing in front of the main operations map.

"That is not good enough," said the commander, as he strode towards the map, "what can you tell me?'

"Using the point where we found Hugh as a starting point, and estimating that he had travelled for two weeks before we found him, we have laid out a search grid."

"And?"

"Also assuming that the human scum misdirected him by moving him north before dropping him off, we have started our searching in the area to the south of where he was found."

"Good assumption, but you are saying that you have found nothing yet."

"That is correct, lord. But it is still early days. We are continuing our sweep northward, and we will find them."

"How long," asked the demon walking to his throne and sitting down, "before we are done?"

"We should reach the northern most point, here, in about six weeks," replied the lieutenant, placing his hand directly on the valley where the village of Morning Breeze was located.

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Later that afternoon, after they had bid farewell to Sonya and the rest of the young women travelling with her, Willow and Buffy were back in the arch-mage's workroom, in the middle of an animated conversation.

"Eggnog," said Buffy, "surely we can find someone who can make eggnog."

"Eggnog," asked Aiofe, "what is eggnog?"

"Sugar, spices, milk and egg yolks," said Buffy, "beaten together and then served with whipped cream and booze."

"Sounds good," said Willow, "what else? I know... we can get Daithi and the boys to get a tree."

"Pudding, turkey, and yams," continued Buffy, rattling off her Christmas dinner wish list, "I'm off to the kitchens. Care to join me, Bridie?"

Bridie stood up and followed the slayer out of the workroom with a wordless glance of confusion back to her lover.

"I know," said Aiofe, "but it sounds like it will be a fun party, anyways."

"That is will be," said Willow. "Now, we need to think of decorations. We can use pine boughs, and cranberries on string to decorate the common room."

"Why all the fuss," asked Aiofe.

"Back on our world, the general population condenses the traditional twelve nights into a single night and day."

"Why?"

"Well, it basically has to do with religion. The dominant religion where we come from usurped many of the traditions of the Goddess, to help bring the population in line, once they had taken over the leadership of a country. It gave the people a sense of continuity with their old practices and beliefs."

"Who were these people?"

"They existed here too at one time," replied Willow, "the Christians."

"But they fell out of favour centuries ago," said Aiofe, "and they were never that big to begin with."

"How did that happen," asked Willow, her curiosity about the differences between this world and her own now fully engaged, "Frankel indicated that your world went through the same basic history as mine did, up until a hundred years or so ago."

"Basic yes," replied Aiofe, "however, there were some major differences in the social / political history between our worlds."

"But wouldn't that have affected the general history?"

"I think that, the more we look at this multiple world business, the more we will find that the major trends remain the same, driven by economic and societal pressures. However, I think that there are differences in the 'seasonings', or specific political and perhaps religious factors on each world."

"So on this world, the Christians never gained the political and religious stranglehold that they did on mine then?"

"The followers of Jesus did make their influence felt, for about four hundred years after his death. But once they tried to aggressively expand into the Celtic countries they ran into serious resistance, and were beaten back by followers of the Goddess, who rose up under inspired and some say Devine, leadership. The various leaders of the Celtic nations then banded together and decided to sweep Europe free of Christians once and for all, feeling that they were an intolerant sect and would only cause future trouble."

"What about the reformation and the age of enlightenment then?"

"Once the Celts had swept Europe clean of Christians, their nations fell into darkness and superstition, based on old tribal infighting and mistrust of non-northern peoples. The progress that had been made to that point fell apart, and disease and war swept repeatedly through Europe. Mohamed rose in the desert, and formed the faith of Allah, and they, the Jewish nations and the great tribal nations of Asia clashed repeatedly with the Celts, and each other, for hundreds of years. It was only with the rise of the great Celtic nations in France, Spain, England and Germany at the end of the fifteenth century that true exploration and scientific progress began."

"Close to our history, but with a couple of significant differences."

"I understand that once the recent ice-age hit, most of Europe, Asia Minor and the Arab nations were over-run with famines and the old, bitter, feuds rose up again. They were also inundated with refugees fleeing the ice, causing renewed fighting between the Celts and the Arabs. The entire area is a wasteland of war and pestilence now. The demons would have had no problems taking over there; it was practically a nightmare on earth before this current war started."

"What happened with exploration on this continent then?" asked Willow, fascinated by this impromptu, and brief, history lesson.

"Well," said Aiofe, "the English and the Spanish led most of the great waves of exploration, in this, the new world. However, once they had restarted their wars in Europe they essentially cut off the colonies here, and we were left to fend for ourselves."

"And?"

"Well, the colonies gradually spread west and south, settling as they went, until they finally reached the west coast around the end of the nineteenth century."

"What of the native inhabitants. I noticed that I haven't seen many overtly native people around."

"For the most part they were gradually absorbed into the European communities, and their racial uniqueness melted into the whole."

"So you never had the Indian wars and the near genocide of the native people then."

"Goddess, no. Our way is, and has always been, accommodation. Frankly, without the natives, the small colonies that had been established would have perished, once trade with Europe had been cut off and once the ice-age had really settled in."

"One more difference between us, making our world and its history look bad in comparison," said Willow, "however, fascinating as this has been, it isn't getting us any closer to our celebration tonight."

"What can we do to get ready?"

"Well, with Buff taking over the kitchen duties, I guess we are on decoration patrol. Let's go find Grael and Daithi and see if we can get a tree and some boughs."

The rest of the afternoon was spent in frenzied activity, as everyone in the inn got involved in the impromptu Christmas celebration. If anyone had questions as to why two followers of the Goddess were so concerned about celebrating an old Christian holiday, they kept them to themselves. Everyone knew that new mothers often had weird, unexplainable, mood shifts and cravings. It was best to accommodate their desires, rather than risk any unpleasant consequences from the mothers falling into the baby blues.

By supper time the common room of the inn had been transformed into a festive party room, with the addition of a large blue spruce tree, which had been decorated with garlands of cranberries, ornaments of silver paper and several small wooden carvings. The walls and mantles had been festooned with pine boughs, adding their distinctive scent to the room. The floors had been swept, and washed, before being rinsed with water infused with several essential oils. The fires had all been built up, and were crackling, adding their cheery light to the room. The three large chandlers had had their oil refilled and were all burning merrily.

The weather outside could have been more hospitable however. Just as everyone was sitting down to their dinner of turkey, goose, stuffing and various vegetables a bitter north wind sprung up, bringing with it the start of a massive snowfall that would last for the next two and a half weeks. Willow looked around at everyone, warm and comfortable, and enjoying their dinner and had a moment of regret.

Turning to Amana she said, "I feel guilty. Here we are, having a nice dinner, safe and warm."

"Why does that cause you concern?"

"Well... Sonya and the others. I sent them out into this storm."

"Don't worry, Willow. You know that they were planning to stay at one of the farms down the mountain. They will be safe there, and they all have enough sense to ride out the worst of the storm before continuing their mission."

"But..."

"No buts, dear. Besides, this celebration is for you and Buffy. Sonya and the others did not know about it before they left, and would not be expecting it. It is totally removed from their experience. They will spend tonight in the traditional manner."

"I guess you're right, Amana."

"I am, now enjoy your party."

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Later that evening, well after the party had finally wound down, Buffy and Willow had just finishing feeding, and settling, their daughters, and were getting ready to go to bed themselves.

"Merry Christmas, sweetie," said Buffy, coming up from behind and embracing her spouse.

"You too," said Willow, leaning back and melting into Buffy's chest.

"Goddess, you are tense, aren't you."

"Lots on my mind."

"I've got a way to help you unwind."

"Do you now," said Willow as she turned in her lover's arms, $and what would that be?$

$You know me better than that.$

$I do, but... just what did you have in that dirty mind of ours?$

$I thought that you'd like a massage. I've got some nice oil to work into your skin.$

$That is so tempting.$

$Then give in.$

$I think I will,$ replied the arch-mage, as she began to trail her finger-tips along her lover's neck, $after all, who know where a massage might lead.$

"And you claim that I have a perverted mind. Now lets get naked, and into bed."

"Goodie."

Within minutes Buffy was gently massaging her lover's back and shoulders.

"These muscles are all knotted up," she said.

Buffy poured a little oil into her hands, and then rubbed them together to warm up the oil. She then began to work the oil into Willow's muscles.

"That is so nice," said Willow, as she began to relax under the skilled hands of her spouse.

The knots and tension in Willow's back muscles began to dissolve as Buffy continued with her massage. Once she had finished working on the shoulders Buffy then began to work her way down her lover's back, taking her time, and making sure to work each muscle group on the way. Willow continued her contented sighing at the attention she was receiving and whimpered in objection when Buffy stopped for a moment.

"Turn over love."

"Mmmm. Do I have to?"

"Yes, sloth girl, you do."

Willow, reluctantly, turned over on the bed, and looked up at the deep jade-green pools, which were her lover's eyes. Eyes that were currently boring holes into her skull.

"Know what you want, I do."

"Yes."

With that, Willow reached up and pulled Buffy down into a deep embrace, crushing Buffy against her body. She continued the kiss, as she began to move her hands along Buffy's back and sides. Reaching her lover's behind, she grasped each check, squeezed, and pushed upwards then pulled down, resulting in their pelvises grinding into each other.

$Oh, yes,$ exclaimed Buffy, as the sexual tension of the moment began to quicken her breath, and her heart rate.

$You like?$

$Just let me show you how much,$ Buffy proceeded to snake one of her hands down between their bodies, on a direct course for Willow's clit. Reaching her target, she grasped Willow's button between her thumb and index finger and began to gently twist; while her forefinger flicked across the top of her lover's clit.

Willow, who had already been in a state of heightened excitement due to the massage, began to buck and squirm, which had the result of grinding her leg even harder into Buffy's pelvis. This simultaneous grinding and manipulating had the desired result as both young women exploded in orgasm. Pausing for a moment to admire her sweat covered spouse, Buffy then began to lick her way down Willow's body, making sure to remove all beads of perspiration. She paid particular attention to Willow's engorged breasts, first licking them clean, then gently sucking on each nipple, being rewarded with a taste of warm milk.

"That tastes so good," Buffy commented, before continuing her slow, slow, oral journey towards her obvious goal.

She traced long trails along Willow's stomach with her tongue, she teased Willow's bellybutton and she gently kissed each of the pale stretch marks along her lover's abdomen, before gently prying Willow's legs apart.

Moving between those legs, Buffy paused for a moment and said, "I see that I have a lot of work to do here."

Buffy alternately, and slowly, licked along the insides of each of Willow's legs, moving ever closer to her lover's cleft. As she approached her goal, she began to gently nip at soft flesh at the top of Willow's thighs, causing her spouse to gasp in pleasure with each bite. Finally, Buffy began her assault on the centre of Willow's pleasure. She began with long licks, from the top of her lover's slit, paying close attention to the little button, to the bottom, spending some time to run her tongue around the edge of Willow's vaginal opening. Buffy then alternated licks, with gentle bites, up and down Willow's sex, creating waves of pleasure and pain to course through her body. The arch-mage began to buck in pleasure, trying to move her clitoris into Buffy's mouth, for direct stimulation from her lover's tongue and teeth.

$Please, please, please,$ Willow whimpered in their mind, $this is so good. Don't stop.$

$Not planning to,$ replied Buffy, as she grabbed one of Willow's inner labia with her teeth, and bit gently on it, $now does that feel nice?$

Receiving only an incoherent whimper in reply, Buffy continued her lovemaking by running her tongue along the edge of the labia she had between her teeth. She then used one hand to open the folds of her lover's cleft, before she plunged her tongue deep into Willow's vagina. As she orally assaulted Willow's love canal, Buffy began to rub Willow's clitoris in a circular pattern. Willow, already near the edge, was not able to hold out for very long; within minutes she began to tremble, then her entire body stiffened as she climaxed. Buffy rode out her lover's climax, not stopping her oral and physical lovemaking. Willow, never dropped out of her peak, just as she began to relax from her orgasm, Buffy's ministrations caused her to peak again. This continued for nearly half an hour, as Buffy caused numerous waves of orgasmic pleasure to course through Willow.

Later, after heartbeat had returned to near normal, Willow reached down and pulled her lover up from between her legs into an embrace.

Kissing her gently, and tasting herself on Buffy's lips and tongue, Willow said, $thank you. I would be lost without you.$

Buffy, snuggled deep in her spouse's arms, suddenly noticed that Willow was weeping. Brushing away the tears, she said, "what's wrong. It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"It isn't you."

"Then what is it? You know that I'm always here for you."

"I miss them."

Understanding then came to the slayer. Willow was homesick. Stroking Willow's long red hair Buffy said softly, "I miss them too."

"It's just that it's been nearly a year now. Mom and Dad must be frantic with worry, no matter what Giles and the others told them."

"It'll be ok, love. We will be home soon, and then we can explain everything. There will be a lot to explain, however."

"Your Mom will also be going nuts. Doesn't that worry you?"

"It does. But, I have put that, and everything else to do with my worries about getting home, into that little spot in my mind where I put the unthinkable. So it won't distract me."

"That's fine for you, lover, but what about me. I don't know if we will even survive the winter, let alone ever get home again."

"We will survive; and we will get home. I have total faith in you and your abilities."

"That makes one of us then."

"Chill, Will. Don't get down on yourself. You will worry this to death, and that will only upset you more. Fate has put us in this position, and you will get us out. Just remember what you have done already."

"Yeah, I got you, me and the cat stranded on a different world."

"You have also saved my life, come into your power, married me, impregnated two women, and produced a beautiful baby."

Willow sniffed back her tears, and said, "I suppose so."

"I know so. Now, let's dry your face, and get some sleep. If the twins are up to their usual tricks, they will be looking for food in a couple of hours or so."

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The next three weeks flew by, as Willow and the rest of her team prepared for the anticipated return of Sonya, the slayers and any mages that they had been able to find. They had not heard from the group since they had left; however, Willow was not worried. She knew that the harsh January weather, combined with a war, would reduce the ability of Sonya to send anyone back with word on her progress. Nevertheless, everyone else did not share Willow's equanimity about the situation.

Willow, Buffy, Aiofe, Bridie and the babies were sitting before one of the fireplaces in the common room, enjoying a post-dinner drink. Buffy, who had been agitating about the lack of news from Sonya all day, continued her harangue by saying, "Damn it, Will, we have to know what is happing. We don't have that much time until the date you told them to return by, and we've heard nothing from them."

"No news could be good news," said Aiofe.

"No news could be they're dead news," retorted Buffy, leaping up from the sofa where she had been sitting with Willow, and beginning to pace back and forth in front of the fire.

"Chill, Buff," said Willow, "I know you are woman of action, but, what can I do. They are either on their way back, or not. Not much I can do to influence things one way or the other."

"But," said Buffy, as she ceased her pacing and returned to her seat, "oh, I don't know, it's just this feeling I've had all day, that they are in trouble."

"Now that, love, is something we can deal with," said Willow, realizing as she got up from the sofa and began to walk towards her workroom that her lover may have been experiencing more than lack of action jitters, "follow me ladies, and lets see if my spouse has 'seen' or is just being a nervous Nelly."

Shortly they had all convened in the workroom, everyone else sitting at the worktable while Willow busied herself by pulling various items out of cabinets and off of shelves.

"Now," she said, "I need you Buffy to give me a hand, and lets just try to figure out what's been bothering you all day, and if it has its basis in reality, or in your imagination."

Buffy stood up and joined Willow at the far end of the worktable, where she had laid out a bowl full of spring water, a brazier, a sharp knife, some incense and a crystal. Willow lit the brazier, and dropped a cone of incense into it, resulting in the scent of jasmine and lavender permeating throughout the room.

Willow turned to Buffy and said; "now love, I'm going to take a small amount of blood from you, and use it and the crystal to try to see what you may have been foretelling in your subconscious, thus causing the agitation that you have been so pleasantly expressing all day."

Willow began by placing the crystal at the bottom of the bowl; she then said a few words, resulting in the water becoming cloudy, with a counter clockwise current swirling in the bowl. She then grasped Buffy's hand, and sliced along the palm. She then dribbled the blood that sprung up from the cut into the water; as each drop hit the water it swirled along with the current, and gradually cleared the water. Once the water had cleared completely, Willow stopped the blood flow from Buffy's hand.

"Now," said Willow, "let's see what we see."

Willow, closed her eyes, spread her hands over the bowl and began to meditate. Aiofe and Bridie stood up and joined Buffy as the three of them watched the water carefully for any indication of success on Willow's part.

Within minutes, the water became opaque again, and began to swirl violently in the bowl. Suddenly Willow clapped her hands and shouted, "ashlaghey ry-heet firriney!"

The result was instantaneous; the cloudy water immediately began to show a picture. It was of a valley not far down the mountain, where it appeared that a large force of demons, nearly a hundred, were attacking a small group of humans. Willow stared at the vision, and caused it to focus in on the humans.

"Goddess," whispered Aiofe, when the faces of the humans became visible, "it's Sonya and the others."

"I think you and Daithi are going for a trip, Buffy," said Willow, as she dismissed the vision in the bowl, "and I think you are leaving in the morning."

"I think you're right," said the slayer, "I just hope I'll be in time."

"You will," replied Willow, "this is a vision of what is to come, not what is or has happened. However, you don't have a lot of time."

"Come," said Bridie, "let's all go to bed. We've an early start in the morning."

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The next morning, well before dawn, Willow, Bridie, Aiofe and the twins had assembled in the common room to bid farewell to Buffy and Daithi.

"You all set," asked Willow, looking over her spouse and the Guards captain. Both were dressed in heavy winter clothing.

"I feel like an Inuit," said Buffy, referring to her clothing.

After eating a hasty breakfast, followed by an equally quick bath, Buffy had fed Faith before getting dressed for her expedition. Thin cotton underwear, covering her from neck to toes, was in turn covered by a set of wool clothing that also ran from neck to ankles. A second layer of cotton clothing in turn, covered this layer. Finally, Buffy had dressed in a thick hooded fur coat and pants, both of which had the fur layer turned inwards; the furs had been bleached a camouflaging white. Over a second pair of cotton socks Buffy wore a thick pair of waterproof leather boots, which were laced up to mid calf. She had put on a wool balaclava, and was carrying a second hat, which she would put on just before leaving. Her hands were already in her thin cotton gloves, she would wait until she left before putting on the thick fur mittens.

"Let's cut this short," said Daithi, "Buffy and I are already getting overheated, we don't want to sweat too much before going out into the cold."

"I agree," said the slayer, "now where is my darling, so I can give her a kiss goodbye?"

"Right here," said Bridie, holding up Faith, for a hug and kiss from her mother, "don't worry, she'll be fine."

"I know," said Buffy, holding back a tear. Looking down at the little girl in her arms she said," I will miss you sweetie. Be a good girl, and I'll be back in four days or so."

As Buffy returned her daughter to Bridie, she said, "take care of her, please."

"I will," replied Bridie.

Buffy then turned and embraced Willow in a bear hug. After a few minutes she said, $take care love.$

$I will. Don't worry about me, just find Sonya and the others as fast as you can.$

$That I will do. Do you realize that this is the first time we've been apart since last Christmas?$

$I do, and that doesn't make it any easier. Now, be careful, and don't get into any needless fights now, please.$

$I won't.$

Buffy kissed her spouse, tousled her long red hair, and said, "Be good. I'll be back in five days, tops."

"I will. You two take care. No heroics, and get back as fast as you can. We cannot afford to lose either of you. This morning's forecast, if we can trust Frankel, said that we're going to have awful weather for the next week, no snow but bitter cold."

"Let's hope that it'll slow the demons more than us, Willow," said Daithi, as he gathered up his backpack and settled it onto his shoulders, "now, let's be off, we have a long walk before we can get to any shelter for tonight."

"You're right," said Buffy, also grabbing her pack and making her final preparations, "let's go."

Buffy and Daithi then left the inn, opening the door to the remnants of the winter storm, which had struck overnight. Wearing their white clothing, it wasn't long before the snow whirling around the pre-dawn sky swallowed them.

Willow, Bridie and Aiofe watched from the door, braving the cold, until they could no longer see either Buffy or Daithi. One by one they turned from the door, Willow being the last, and returned to the chairs before one of the fireplaces.

"That's that then," said Willow, she sipped from her mug of mulled cider and after a moment's pause continued, "I hate this."

"What, love," asked Aiofe.

"Sending people into danger."

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In the demon lord's war room, things were getting tense for the various members of his command staff. It had been over three weeks, and the various groups of demon scouts had not yet found any sign of the slayer and her companions. The army that was waiting to strike was getting restless after weeks of inaction; things were beginning to come to the boil.

The master was sitting on his throne, surveying the work being performed by his subordinates and reading various dispatches, when one of his lieutenants approached him and bowed deeply.

He looked up from the dispatch he was reading and said, "Yes? What is it?"

"We have just received new intelligence, Lord."

"Yes?"

"One of our outlying tracking forces has picked up the trail of a large group of humans, heading north from the capital towards the area where the demon Hugh was found."

"How many?"

"More than thirty, lord. They are moving slowly and our forces should be in a position to intercept by tomorrow at the latest."

"Good," said the demon master, "that many humans moving towards a sparsely inhabited region can only be the work of the slayer. Make sure that we capture at least half of them, so that we can find out where they were going."

"As you will, lord."

"One other thing."

"Yes, my lord?"

"Get the army moving north. I have a feeling that we will be finding our answers, soon."

"It will be done."

The lieutenant bowed, and turned away from the demon lord.

The demon master put down the reports that he had been reading and thought, "soon, soon I will have her eliminated; and the threat she poses to me will be gone."

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For Sonya, and the other slayers, the last three weeks had been successful, if not enjoyable. They had trekked for nine days through a winter storm before they had reached one of the small outlining towns that were around the capital. The town had been blasted, by the demon army that overran it, and was now a collection of burnt-out shells. The pitiful remnants of the human population lived like rats in the runes, scurrying out of sight at the slightest sound, for fear of the demons returning to enslave them, like they had enslaved the rest of the town's survivors. Sonya had noticed, peripherally, the scurrying as she and the others approached the ruins. She decided that time was no longer on her side and was definitely not available to her for a long search through the town; She therefore took up residence in one of the least destroyed buildings, and waited for the inhabitants to come to her, as she knew they eventually would.

They settled into their temporary camp by setting up a campfire, sleeping and storage areas, and by posting sentries at all of the openings to the structure; an hour later Sonya was rewarded when she was told that there was someone approaching the building. Sonya went to a gaping hole in one of the blackened walls, and carefully looked out, to see the emissary from the survivors of the town. She saw a small girl, no more than ten, carefully picking her way through the rubble towards the newcomers.

Inwardly seething at the callousness of other humans, for using a little girl as a stalking horse, she waited until the girl was no more than ten meters away from the blasted door of the house before saying softly, "it's ok. We won't hurt you. We've come for information, and some help."

The girl slowly moved closer to the building her eyes constantly darting from side to side, as if she could see through stone, saying nothing. She stopped about three meters from the door. Sonya, moved away from the side of the opening so that she could be seen, then said, "It's alright. We won't hurt you. What is your name?"

The girl looked up and focused all of her attention on Sonya. Her face was streaked with dirt and her clothing totally inadequate for the winter, and then whispered, "Sam."

"That's a nice name, Sam," said Sonya as she carefully exited the building, all the while keeping eye contact with the little girl. She moved closer to the waif and then said, "Would you like to come inside and get warm? We have some food also. Then we can tell you our story, so you can tell the others."

That had been all that was required. The girl was intelligent; she had to be to have survived that long, and she knew that she had been sent because the others in the destroyed town thought that she was expendable. She thought the offer over, and decided that the chance to get warm, and for hot food was worth the risk. She followed Sonya back into the building, and became the liaison between the slayers and the town's survivors.

Over the next week, Sonya, by using the extra clothing and food that they had brought as currency, was able to get the other survivors to scout the other towns surrounding the besieged capital and find the mages she needed. By the end of the week twenty-two mages, of various ranks, had made their way to Sonya's camp. Sonya knew then that it was time to go. They were now a significant presence in the area, and that would be sure to draw demon attention before long.

They had left the following day, the thirteen slayers escorting the mages, and Sam. Sonya had decided to bring the little girl back with her since both of her parents were dead. Since she had no living relatives, she would have continued to be at the mercy of the other survivors in the town.

They had made good time back to the village, given that, for once, the weather appeared to be cooperating with them. This had resulted in their making excellent progress each day, even given the reality that several of the mages had to move slowly due to lack of nutrition and injuries. Sonya had not seen any signs of demon presence and hoped that their luck would hold just a little longer, since she figured that they were only about a day or two from the village. However, as they entered a small valley one morning, shortly before noon, disaster struck. Sonya could see that a force of demons already occupied it, a force over fifty strong.

"Goddess help us now," she said, "we were so close."

Sonya immediately arranged her slayers so that they formed a protective half circle around the mages, who, given their relative lack of experience, and condition, would not be in a position to offer any assistance. She then calmly waited for the demons, who had already spotted her and were charging down the valley, to get close enough before she had her forces attack with their bows.

"It's in the hands of the Goddess now," she said to herself before she focused herself for the upcoming battle and called out to the others, "Fire!"

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Buffy and Daithi had pushed themselves as hard as they could. However, the storm that had passed just before they had departed the inn had deposited several feet of snow in the passes. This had caused a significant delay in their progress towards the valley that Buffy had seen in the vision, and Daithi had recognized from Willow's description.

They had spent the previous night in an abandoned cottage, about a half-day's travel from the valley that Buffy had seen. As soon as they had awoke, the two of them had immediately gathered their packs and headed out, Buffy fearing that they would be too late.

As they entered the head of the valley, it looked like Buffy's fears were proving correct. For ahead of them was a massive force of demons charging towards a small group of humans.

"You were right," said Daithi, "we're too late."

"Maybe not. If Sonya and the others can hold them off for a couple of minutes, we should be able to hit them from behind."

Daithi looked over at the slayer, as if she was possessed, with a disbelieving look on his face. Buffy glanced over at him and said, reassuringly, "it's ok. I'm not that crazy. Besides, it's what I do."

Just after Buffy finished saying a prayer to the Goddess, and as she reached down to her chest to grasp her sword, which had migrated through the layers of clothing without burning them, they saw the front ranks of the demons fall to the onslaught of the slayers arrows.

"That's it," said Buffy, "now's our chance while they are distracted by Sonya and their wounded."

The two warriors made their way swiftly, but quietly, along the trail made by the demons in their rushing attack on Sonya and the others. Within ten minutes, they were within striking distance of the demon rearguard. Buffy motioned for Daithi to head to the right, while she would move to her left. This, would she hoped create additional confusion within the demon ranks once they began their attack.

Buffy quickly found a position from which to launch her attack. Thinking over her plan of attack, she mentally cursed herself for not having arranged for a signal to Daithi when she was ready. Thinking, "oh well, I'll just leap in and start slashing. Hopefully Daithi will see the effect I have and launch his own attack."

Buffy gave one more quick prayer to the Goddess then raised her sword overhead, causing it to burst into flame. Moving quickly to strike before any of the demons thought to look behind, she crossed the short distance between herself and three mottled, troll like demons, who were armed with heavy wooden clubs. She raised her sword and then swiftly struck a downward slashing blow, which sliced deep into the shoulder and chest of the first of her opponents.

Screaming, "Time to die, scum bags," Buffy immediately pulled back her sword and then thrust it deep into her victim's back, killing it instantly by piercing his heart.

Pulling out her sword from the falling body, Buffy then leaped to the right, to the side of her second target, avoiding the crushing blow from his club, which went whistling through the space that she had just vacated. Buffy pirouetted, ducked under the return swing from the demon, and simultaneously slashed at his legs, slicing through one leg, and deeply into the other. The demon roared in pain, alerting several of his companions who turned to see what had caused the trouble, and immediately dropped to the ground, to bleed out and die without causing any further trouble to Buffy.

Buffy paused for a second, to catch her breath, and saw that Daithi had indeed used her attack as the signal for him to spring into action. She then noticed that her attack had drawn the attention of several others, at least ten, demons. Thinking, "Time to be defensive for a minute or so," she moved back from her second victim and assumed a defensive pose, her sword moving back and forth in front of her.

The demons facing her decided that their best option would be to rush this foolish human. Moving slightly apart, to try and flank Buffy, they then rushed at her with a roar. Buffy didn't wait. Seeing the start of their rush, she jumped to the left, to the extreme edge of the group of demons, and thrust into the belly of her closest opponent. Using his scream of pain as a distraction Buffy then leaped forward and rolled over her sword in midair; as she exited her manoeuvre she slashed out, hitting the second demon in the skirmish line, who had just begun to turn to follow her, in the side cutting into his lungs, and putting him out of action for the rest of the battle.

Knowing that she was finished if she remained in a stand up fight Buffy continued to move quickly, slashing at various opponents, then using her superior strength and speed to move on. She worked her way across the rear of the demon force until she met up with Daithi. He had followed a similar strategy, moving gradually toward Buffy. Once they had met, Buffy took another quick breather, to allow Daithi and herself to regain some energy. They then resumed their attack, moving back and forth across the demons who were now confronted with attacks on both sides.

Meanwhile, Sonya attacked in strength. She had immediately noticed when the demons eased off their attack on her group. Surmising that she had somehow received assistance, from where she wasn't too concerned about, she paused for a few moments, allowing her group of slayers to regain their breath. Once they were ready, she led a charge into the now very demoralized demons. That was enough to turn the tide; the demons were routed, and began to flee the valley leaving their wounded, and most of their weapons behind.

Buffy and Daithi then busied themselves, dispatching the demon wounded, while Sonya and the other slayers patched up their wounded. Once the grisly job of finishing off the demons was completed, Buffy came over to where Sonya had set up her impromptu first-aid station.

"Hi Buffy," said Sonya, looking up as she approached, "excellent timing."

"Thanks," replied Buffy, sitting down on a dead log, "need any help?"

"Your healing skills would be appreciated," said Sonya, "for a couple of the more critically wounded, that I could do nothing for."

"I'll see what I can do."

Buffy and Sonya went to the area, which had been set aside for the more seriously wounded. Buffy saw that she was too late for three of the group. Two of the mages, and one on Sonya's companions had been killed; they were now in the hands of the Goddess. However, Sonya did indicate that there were a number of serious injuries amongst the slayers, serious enough that if Buffy did not act quickly the number of the dead would grow.

Buffy approached the young woman who Sonya indicated was the most seriously injured. She looked down at the girl, and recognized her as Alya. She was one of the youngest of the new slayers, no more than fifteen. She was crying softly, in obvious agony from the five parallel gashes that had cut deep into her side and across her belly.

Buffy bent down and picked up one of the woman's hands, and said softly, "Alya. I'm going to do my best, but you know that I've not got much experience at this?"

"I know," choked out Alya, "but you are the only hope I have."

"Will you allow me to use my gift to heal you," asked Buffy.

"I will," replied Alya, completing the ritual that would allow Buffy to use her magic on a human.

Buffy took a closer look at the wound, as she carefully unwrapped the blood-soaked cloth that had been pressed against it, in a futile attempt to staunch the bleeding. She saw that the flesh had been mangled, as if by a series of serrated knives, and a yellow-green pus was oozing from the slashes.

"I hope you got the slime that did this," said Buffy, as she gently began to wash away the worst of the pus with a warm cloth.

"He died just as he was hitting me," said Alya, wincing as Buffy cleaned the wounds, "I just didn't leap back fast enough."

"You will next time," reassured Buffy, as she tossed aside the cloth she had been using to clean the wound. Buffy then paused, focused her attention entirely on the young woman on the ground in front of her. She translated her sight into the magical realm, and looked for the energy ties that bound Alya to the material world. As expected, Buffy saw that the ties were dimming, as the life force drained away from the wounded woman.

Buffy thought to herself, "got to give her the energy to stand up to the healing," and began to use her feedback tools to pump energy back into Alya. She then called up the new skills that she had been training with, and laid her hands directly on the young woman's wounds. She concentrated, and focused her attention on the damaged tissue, convincing it to accelerate the bodies natural repair process. She maintained her focus on her task, her knees rapidly stiffening beneath her until she could see the wounds close under her hands. As Buffy finished her healing accomplishment, Alya collapsed in exhaustion due to her relief from the pain.

Letting out her breath in a soft wheeze Buffy stood up, stretched out her legs, turned to Sonya, and said, "She'll be ok now. She will sleep for the next few hours and wake up hungry as a bear. Now who's next?"

Buffy spent the remainder of the afternoon going from patient to patient, healing each as best she could. Meanwhile, Daithi and Sonya got busy preparing and fortifying a campsite, since it was obvious that they would not be able to proceed any further that day.

As dusk fell, Buffy sat on a log before the campfire, exhausted beyond belief from her healing efforts. Barely recognizing the dish that was put into her hands as food, she began to mechanically eat the meal that had been prepared. Before she was finished her plate, she collapsed in exhaustion and had to be carried to her tent by Daithi.

Buffy awoke, just as the blankets were being tucked around her to whisper, "Thanks."

"Sleep well. You deserve it."

Buffy had one more thought just before dropping into the arms of Morpheus for the night and sent out a, $found them love. We'll be back in two days.$

She was reassured to hear Willow's, $love you, miss you, will see you soon,$ in reply.

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The demon master was pacing in his command centre, impatiently waiting for news about the attack on the group of humans heading into the mountains. Suddenly, as his back was to the door, he stiffened then tuned and made obeisance.

"Lord," he said to the demon who was his commander and his master, "how may I serve?"

"Talaker," said the huge, over three meters, demon. "You've been keeping secrets again."

"Yes, master," said the demon Talaker, knowing it was pointless to try to lie to his master.

"Where is she?"

"We don't know, yet, my lord," replied Talaker, beginning to wonder if these were his last moments alive.

Just then, a demon lieutenant approached the two demon lords. He bowed and waited for permission to speak. Finally, the demon overlord gave him leave to speak.

"Masters," he began, "we've received word."

"Yes," said the overlord, "what is it?"

"Good news, my lord, the force that was tracking a group of humans into the mountains, who we thought would have knowledge of the slayer," he added in clarification, "has been nearly destroyed."

"And why exactly is this good news," asked the overlord, wondering if everyone on Talaker's staff was brain damaged.

"They were destroyed by the slayer," replied the lieutenant.

"That is good news, and it would be even better, if they found out where she went."

"They did, lord," replied the lieutenant moving towards the main battle map. "They are here," he said, pointing to the town of Morning Breeze.

"I trust, Talaker, that you have a plan?"

"I do lord."

"Please explain."

"In anticipation of news about the slayer from this group of humans I had already moved an army north, towards that very town."

"That is good news, how large?"

"Nearly seven hundred, lord."

"Excellent. Now, I think that you had better get to them, and lead by example. I needn't tell you that failure is not an option, now do I?"

"No, my lord. I'll leave immediately."

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Two days after Buffy and Daithi had linked up with Sonya, they made it back to the village, and immediately plunged into a frantic series of preparations for Willow's attack on the hell-mouths. Willow concluded that the demons who had survived Buffy's rescue mission would immediately alert their lord as to the location of the humans, and that the demon leadership would then be in a position to rapidly deduce Willow's location and launch an attack.

Willow knew, however, that she could not rush things. She therefore spent a precious week with the new mages, and the townspeople who would round out the circles, practicing the rituals that she would use to attack the demon's energy transportation network. Grael, Frankel and Amana spent the time preparing an area in one of the barns, which would be big enough for Willow's purposes, by cleaning and arranging for a suitable source of heat. Buffy and Daithi worked on the defences of the town, and prepared for an attack all hoped wouldn't come, but knew that would arrive all the same.

Finally, just as the month was ending, Willow announced at breakfast that everything and everyone was ready, and that she would perform the ritual that night, after everyone who was involved had had a chance to prepare.

Turning to Buffy at the breakfast table Willow then said, "That's it then, we're committed to this course of action."

Just as Buffy was about to reply the door to the inn burst in, followed by an exhausted Padrick, gasping for breath, who called out, "My Lady, demons! Demons are about to attack the village in strength!"

A/N – thanks again for all of your reviews.


	14. O Praeclarum Cutodeon Ovium Lupum

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Chapter XIV - O Praeclarum Cutodeon Ovium Lupum

(An excellent protector of sheep, the wolf)

In the town of Morning Breeze, in the common room of the inn, chaos governed. Some people were doing their best to leave, while others were out shouting each other in a futile attempt to bring the room to some semblance of order. Standing at one end of the room, outwardly unperturbed, was the arch-mage, Willow Rosenberg. Inwardly, however, she was far from serene. Her worst nightmare was about to descend on the town, and she was the person who was going to have to deal with the problem.

Deciding that panic had had enough of a head start, she climbed onto a table and shouted in a booming voice, "enough! Everyone, settle down, and get back to your seats. And get back now!"

The effect was instantaneous, one of their leaders had spoken, and everyone slowly returned to their seats. Willow waited until the majority had been seated, and until the noise level had abated to a tolerable level before saying, "Ok! This has put a wrinkle into the plans, but it's not fatal."

Willow allowed that statement to settle in before she turned to Padrick and said, "Padrick, where are they, and how long until they get here?"

"They have just started to cross the southern pass, my Lady," said the tired guardsman, "they'll be here in force in about three hours, scouting parties about an hour before that."

"How many," asked Willow.

"Nearly a thousand."

"That adds another wrinkle," said Buffy as she began to pace; turning to her spouse she added, "and a big one; now, how do we handle this?"

"By not panicking," replied the arch-mage, climbing down from the table and sitting down once again in her chair. "First, we move up the ritual for closing the hell-mouths."

"Is that possible," asked Aiofe, "you have just told us that you were going to do the closing at dusk."

"That was only to allow time for everyone to get ready," said Willow, "the ritual can be done at any time."

"Ok, so we can get moving on that," said Buffy, "how much time do you need?"

"About an hour," replied Willow, "we'll have the participants do the ritual bathing altogether, and after that spend some time in meditation."

"That takes care of the mages, now how do we keep the ritual undisturbed?"

"That is where you, the other slayers, and Daithi and his merry men come into play. You are going to have to keep the demons away long enough for the ritual to be completed, hopefully no more than two or three hours after I begin; once it is done, they should be all unconscious."

"Not too good lover," said Buffy worriedly, "fifty to one odds. Those are high, even by my standards, not to mention keeping them away from you for nearly two hours."

"I know," said Willow, "but you only have to hold them off, not defeat them utterly."

"Besides," said Amana, "you will have Grael and me helping you."

"Huh," said Willow, "but I'm going to need your help."

"Buffy will need us more," replied Grael, "you are strong enough to lead the ritual; Amana and I will not add significantly to it."

"You will be a help," said Buffy, "but what about restrictions on using your, and, come to think of it, my, magic?"

"No problem," said Willow, having quickly worked through in her own mind the pros and cons of not having Amana and Grael helping her during the ritual, "everyone else in the area will either be part of the ritual, or in the room with us for protection. The three of you will have a free hand, since anything left moving around outside of the village will be demon in origin."

"Another problem may have just come up," said Daithi, who had entered the inn, just as Willow had restored order, from his morning inspection of the defensive positions that had been set up during the previous week. He sat down and began to consume a quick meal, knowing that he would, in all likelihood, not be eating again until the upcoming battle with the demons had been resolved, one way or the other.

"Huh," asked a now confused Willow, "what did we forget?"

"Nothing," replied Daithi, "at least in a preparation for the ritual sense. But, it looks like a major weather system is pushing in quickly from the north. We should be getting snow and lots of it within the next few hours."

Turning to everyone in the room, Willow then said, "ok folks, this isn't good news, by any stretch of the imagination, but panic isn't going to help. We have the plan that we've been working on all week, and we have the ability to strike a devastating blow against the demons occupying this world; so let's stay focused, do what we've trained for and give the demon leadership a message that they'll never forget."

The people in the common room then exploded into purposeful action. They began by organizing themselves into various groups; some to round up the rest of the townspeople and bring them to safety, others to begin their preparations for the ritual. Buffy left the room and headed to the training area, planning on using it as her base of operations. Willow picked up her daughters and headed for the baths since both Faith and Kendra would be staying with her for the duration of the day's events.

Bridie and Aiofe headed to the kitchens, to make sure that the cooks were made aware of the new timetable. The cooks had already been awake for the last few hours, making the morning meal, and arranging for food to be prepared and sent to the converted barn in which Willow would be conducting the ritual. Bridie and Aiofe also wanted to make certain that the cooks remembered that all fires, torches and lamps in the inn were to be extinguished before they joined the rest of the villagers who would be taking shelter with Willow and the other mages conducting the ritual. Once they had completed their trip to the kitchens, the two young women joined Willow, her daughters and the other mages in the baths, to get ready for their roles in the upcoming task.

All through the village, everyone implemented the contingency plans, which had been developed over the previous week. Fires were extinguished; the livestock was collected, some to be brought to the inn - the rest to be sent into the hills. Weapons were collected and stored in the converted barn, to be used by the villagers who were taking shelter there in the defence of their homes, should it come to pass that the demons were able to get by Buffy and the other slayers.

One hour after receiving the news that the demons were about to attack, everything was ready. The town was silent, and dark. Buffy and the rest of the defenders had taken up their already prepared positions at the southern edge of the town. Willow and the rest of the villagers had assembled in the converted barn, ready to begin the ritual, which would hopefully close the hell-mouths forever, and give a severe blow to the demons that were besieging this world.

Willow looked around the room, at the twenty-nine people who would be assisting her in the ritual, and at the villagers who were taking refuge with the mages in the old barn; these were primarily the elderly, the infirm and the expectant.

"Ok folks," she said, standing at one end of the building and addressing the non-participants, "we're nearly ready to begin. I'm sorry that I don't have the time to give you as detailed explanation about what is going to happen as I usually do, but, don't worry, and whatever you do, don't leave this room.

"I'm going to ask that you try to keep as quiet as you can, and to stay well away from the circles. I'm not too sure what may manifest during the ritual, but whatever happens and whatever you see, please don't freak on me.

"I'll be putting a protection ring around the building, to try to keep the baddies away. It won't stand up to a determined assault, but it will give you a good deal of protection, and more importantly warning that this building is about to be attacked."

With that, Willow returned to the centre of the room. She stood in the exact centre of three large circles, which had been inscribed directly into the packed earth floor of the building, each one about two feet inside of the other. She took one last look around, to make certain that everything was in place, and that she had access to the tools she would need over the next few hours. She saw the people who would be participating in the ritual standing in a loose circle around her. Some of the participants, such as Frankel, Bridie and Aiofe, were relaxed and confident; others were showing some small measure of nervousness.

Willow looked carefully at each person, spending the time to seek out and look directly into his or her eyes. She was trying, successfully, to reassure each of them that what they were about to do was going to be successful, and that they would survive. She thought to herself, "Goddess, give me the strength I need," and was not too surprised to have a sense of peace descend over the room.

Taking a deep breath she thought $ok love, we're good to go.$

$We'll keep the nosey neighbours from bothering you, luck.$

$Thanks, love you.$

$Love you too. See you when it's all over.$

Turning to the altar Willow then said, "Ok everyone, places."

The other participants then began to finalize the preparations for the ritual. Some went to light the watchtowers, and the others moved to take their places within the various circles. Aiofe, Bridie, Faith, Kendra, Frankel and the two other mages, which would be acting as joint High Priest with Frankel, joined Willow in the centre of the circles.

Just as she was taking a breath, to begin the ritual, Willow noticed that she had been joined by a familiar presence; she looked down and said, "There you are Shadow-Cat glad you could make it."

Her familiar looked up, purring as she weaved between Willow's legs, before she took up her accustomed place under the high-altar.

Willow and Frankel, with the assistance of the other High-Priests and Priestesses, then began the breathing exercises and chants which would centre the group and allow Willow to continue. Once she was satisfied that everyone had focused in on the task to be done, she, along with the others, cast the three times three circles which would, she hoped, protect everyone from the actions she was going to undertake.

As had happened previously the shields, and the guardians, manifested themselves as actual physical objects in the room, visible to all. As the now familiar physical guardians appeared Willow thought to herself, "I hope that no-one freaks over this, since I forgot to mention it to those who haven't seen it happen before."

Fortunately for Willow, none of the townspeople taking shelter in the barn, nor any of the new mages panicked; they were all startled, but were able to keep their composure.

As soon as she returned to the centre of the circles, Willow began to draw up the power she would need for the rest of the ritual. As she started to collect the energy from the magical realm, channelled through each of the participants in the circle, she realized that the amount of energy she was collecting, focusing and storing was tremendous.

She thought to herself, "I could level the Rockies with this much power."

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Ten kilometres to the south, the demon lord leading the impending attack on the human village was in an upbeat mood. He was in a large tent that he had set up as his mobile command post, with his various subordinates and sub-commanders in attendance with him as he prepared for the next step in the mission that his lord had given him. So far, things had been progressing according to plan, and he figured that within the day he would be sucking the marrow from the bones of the slayer.

"So far the opposition has been non-existent," he though to himself, as he was reviewing his plans for the final assault on the village. "Not much movement in the village, or in the outlying areas, however, she must know we are coming."

Coming to a decision he barked out to a lieutenant, "Call back the recon force. Now that the bulk of the army is in the valley proper, we don't need them scouting ahead anymore."

"Your will, lord," replied the yellow skinned demon, turning to leave.

"Are you certain about calling them back, my lord," asked another lieutenant carefully, this one a mottled blue demon with gold horns, "we still do not know precisely where they are located."

"It doesn't matter Tarana," said the lord, beginning to pace in the confined quarters of the tent, "they have to be in that village, or in the surrounding area, somewhere. If we level the place and search the rubble, we are certain to find our target."

Not being able to voice any further concerns, and be able to keep her head, the demon turned back to reviewing the part of the attack plan that she would be required to implement. It was, all in all, a rather simple plan, she would be required to move her third of the army to the west, and then sweep into the village as part of a three-pronged attack. The more she looked over the plan, the more concerned she became. It was looking like her lord was trusting in an all-out attack to overwhelm the village, and that sheer numbers would be enough to defeat whatever defences were in place. She decided that, to be on the safe side, she would hold back a portion of her forces; just to see how the battle developed, "after all," she reasoned to herself, "if they are not needed they can help with the mopping up, and, if we do have resistance, I'll be able to use them to shore up any weak points in our assault."

The demon lord stopped his pacing, turned to his staff, and said, "That's it. Let's get to it. And remember, there is absolutely no room for failure."

The various officers and aids left the tent, to return to their own commands. They were confident that their numbers alone would be enough to crush any humans that they came across. Even the most pessimistic amongst them figured that it would take no more than a day or so to eliminate the humans and be back on the road home.

Just as he was leaving his tent, the demon lord felt a stirring in the magical energies. Curious, he translated his sight into the magical realm and saw the effect that Willow was having there; it looked like a black hole, centred to the north, was sucking in all of the energy in the area. Just as he was returning his vision to the normal world, he felt the effects of Willow's work, as an enormous magical backlash struck him, giving him a headache of near migraine proportions.

Staggering under the pain, he called out to his staff, "hold up for a minute. We've got a new set of problems. Find our mages, now."

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Buffy shivered in the sub-zero temperatures and looked around at the improvised bunker that she was sharing with Alya, Padrick and one of the other new slayers. It was an improvised barricade of stone and wood, located just to the south and along the main road that bisected the village. Thinking that if they had had just a little more time that they would have been able to build a more substantial set of defences, she thought, "it will have to do. No use worrying about what ifs at this point."

She turned to Alya, noticed the young woman shivering and said, "Cold day isn't it?"

"It's not really the cold."

"I know," replied Buffy gently, "just remember, you are a slayer. You are with your friends and companions, and that we have the favour of the Goddess on our side."

"I know, but..."

"That doesn't help much, though does it?"

"No, and..."

"And what?"

"Well, last time I faced off against demons, I nearly died. I would have died if you hadn't been there to heal me."

"You can't forget that, I know. But, you are going to have to put it in the back of your mind. If you don't, it will impair your performance, and probably put you into danger."

"I know, but it's hard. How do you manage?"

"Practice, plus in the beginning it was easier for me."

"How's that?"

"In part because when I began, I was not surrounded by hundreds of vampires and demons," Buffy paused for a moment, and then continued, "That came later."

"Well, at least I'm with you, that is a comfort."

"And we have Shari and Padrick also. They'll be able to help, of that I'm sure."

"That we will, miss," said Padrick. "We'll be ok."

Just as Padrick finished, speaking the four of them felt an electric tingle wash over their bodies. Realising, through her link with her lover, what was happing Buffy turned to the others and said, "ok, let's look sharp. That was Willow beginning her spell. It'll be up to us to keep the baddies away."

Everyone gripped their weapons a bit tighter and began to scan the horizon to the south, with just a little bit more care; for they knew that the demon army would be upon them soon.

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Just to the west of Buffy's position, Amana and Grael were also setting up their defensive position. As was the case with the slayer's position, theirs was a defensive position more in intent than in substance, and both mages knew that it would not sustain a prolonged attack for very long.

They shared their position with Daithi and one of the new slayers, who, like Alya, was very concerned about the upcoming battle.

Amana noticed the young woman, trembling and looking around furtively, and said, "Relax Maria, it'll be a while before anything happens."

"I know lady," whispered the young woman, who was barely out of her teens, "I'm just having difficulty processing everything that's been happening."

"Just remember what we are trying to do, concentrate on what you have to do, and remember that you are not alone," replied Amana, as she embraced the younger woman.

"I know," repeated Maria, "it's just that I've never done anything like this before. I've never experienced anything like what's happened to me over the last few months."

"No one has," answered Amana, "all of us have been overwhelmed by recent events."

"Except..." whispered Maria.

"Except, you think, Buffy and Willow," said the older woman, tightening her hug, just a little more.

Maria moved away from Amana and sat on the ground. She paused for a moment, and then asked "what is it with those two? Why are they unfazed by anything?"

"It only appears that way," replied Amana, "but, truth be told, they constantly worry about everything, and everyone."

"Doesn't look that way."

"That is just a sign of their growing maturity as partners, and leaders," added Grael, contributing to the discussion for the first time.

"Not to mention becoming parents," said Daithi, "that alone is enough to 'mature' anyone quickly."

"But..." said Maria, "they are always so up on things."

"That has only happened recently," said Daithi, "when they first arrived..." Daithi paused to recollect for a moment before continuing, "Goddess, it's been exactly a year today since they arrived."

Just then, Daithi and the others felt an electric tingle across their bodies, which raised the tiny hairs on their arms, even though they were bundled in multiple layers of clothing against the cold.

"That must be Willow beginning," commented Amana.

"You're right," agreed Grael, "looks like she succeeded in the first part of her work today."

"How's that," asked Maria.

"She managed to raise a mammoth amount of power, without destroying the village."

"That's not all that is happing," said Daithi, looking to the northern sky, "the storm is about to break... right over us."

"Quick," yelled Grael over the suddenly howling wind, "let's bundle up together and ride out the storm."

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The winter storm hit the valley with a vengeance. The temperature and the visibility plummeted, and the winds rose, till they were whipping over the mountains, before plunging straight through the valley, numbing everything in their path. The wind chill rose till it was sucking every hint of warmth from the bodies of both the defenders in the town, and the demon army preparing to attack them.

It was if the Gods had decided to provide a violent and chaotic backdrop to the titanic struggle, the opening act of which had just started.

Willow and the rest of the participants in the converted barn, never noticed the rising storm. Willow was struggling to maintain her focus, and to control the enormous amount of energy she had raised. The other members of the circles were trying to contain the energy that Willow was passing over to them, and to maintain the shields protecting the circle. Willow continued her internal struggle for over twenty minutes before she felt ready to proceed with the next step in her plan.

Turning to Bridie and Aiofe she panted, "That's that then. I think that I've got control of the energy that I'll need, now for the hard part."

"If that was the hard part, what's next," asked a very concerned Aiofe. She, and her lover, had been aware of Willow's efforts, but knew that they were in no position to help once Willow had begun her work, and that the arch-mage would have to manage on her own.

"It's time for me to translate my sight, and as much of my essence as I can, into the magical realm, and to look for a week point to hack into."

"I know," said Bridie, "but, what do you need us to do?"

"Keep control over the power we've raised; keep control over the shields we have put up around the circle, and the barn, and, incidentally, keep a second eye on me, so that I can find my way back, once this is over."

"Now I understand what she meant by the easy part being over," commented Frankel dryly.

"Sarcasm is inappropriate in a sage," retorted Willow, "now; if we are all ready, let's move on to stage two."

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Down the valley the demon leadership were just concluding a hastily called meeting with their mages when the storm broke over their encampment.

"That's all we need," said the demon lord, shivering as the wind began to suck the warmth from his exposed skin. "This development is going to slow us down; even more than worrying about what that cursed witch was already going to do, or is already doing."

"But, my lord," replied one of his lieutenants, "this will also affect the humans, won't it not?"

"Yes, but they are all nice and snug in their town, whereas we have to move across the valley - against the wind, I might add."

The demon lord paced in front of his command tent for a moment before continuing, "nothing we can do about it, if we are to believe the 'wisdom' of our mages. So, let's get the army moving."

The demon leader was reacting to the somewhat ambivalent information his mages had given him, regarding the disruption Willow was causing in the magical realm. Their consensus, albeit very guarded, was that the human mage was simply trying to cause a disruption in the magical energy fields, and that it would not cause any great problems in the battle, however, the mages had indicated that as a result of the human's actions, their abilities to assist the army would be severely curtailed if not eliminated totally.

The mages had also commented that there was something strange and powerful happening in the vicinity of the village. They were unable to clarify what it was exactly, or determine if it was something that would cause problems to the army.

The demon army proceeded up the valley towards the small village. The demons slogged through the snow, turning the fields into quagmires of mud, slowing them down even more that the bitter wind in their faces was.

Finally, more than two hours after they started their march, they were in position on three sides of the town. It was noon, not that anyone could tell, since visibility was now no more than ten meters. The army was cold, wet and demoralized. They were caked with mud, and their clothing stuck to their bodies, damp with the melted snow, which had forced its way under their armour. The demons stamped their feet, from nervousness, and as a way to try to keep warm, while they waited for the signal to attack.

Suddenly the gloom of the snow-choked sky was lit by numerous magical flares, as the townspeople attacked, in the defence of their homes, and their lives.

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The defenders of the village had huddled behind their fortifications as the storm broke over the village. It would be a storm remembered for generations, that is, if anyone was left alive to remember it at the end of the day.

Buffy stood staring to the south, oblivious to the weather, straining to catch a glimpse at the army she knew was approaching.

Finally, after nearly two hours of standing, gazing through the diminishing visibility, she turned to Padrick and said, "They're near. Do you think that you could get to Amana and have her come over here, I have a plan."

"I think so," replied the guardsman as he left their improvised fortifications and headed into the storm to where Amana was located.

"Plans. Plans are good," said Alya, beginning to shiver just a little more, but not from the cold.

"Don't worry," reassured Buffy as she finally took refuge from the storm by sitting down behind the fortifications. "This weather is certain to have caused more problems for the baddies, than for us. That will work in our favour."

"I'm glad to hear that," replied the young woman.

At that moment Padrick returned with Amana. After settling in for a moment the older woman turned to Buffy and asked, "Afternoon, Buffy, what is it you think I can help you with?"

"They're close. Very close now."

"Ok, now what do you want to do?"

"Wise man once says - best defence is a good offence. So I think that we should attack."

"Okay..." said Amana carefully, "how do you want to proceed?"

"We need light, and lots of it," said the slayer, "then we will see what we are up against. Once we know that, we blast them from here with everything we've got. Then, hopefully, there won't be too many left to attack us in the town."

"Worth a try," said Padrick, "beats waiting for them to attack us."

"Maybe the surprise factor, combined with what had to have been a demoralizing trek through this weather might cause some of them to panic and run away," said Amana. She thought for a moment then added, "I should be able to provide the light needed, Padrick, could you go back and let Grael know what we are going to do, so that he's ready?"

"No problem lady," said the guardsman, once again heading out into the weather.

"Ok," said Buffy, "that takes care of light. Now, what can we blast them with?"

"Well," said Amana, "you should be able to use your abilities to strike from a distance, I would suggest that create some walls of air to crush some of the demons. Grael will be able to use some of his earth-based skills to disrupt them, and cause them to worry about their footing. I will be able to strike with water and some limited fire based spells."

"Sounds good," said Buffy.

"Lady," asked Alya, "what do you want Shari and I to do? Neither of us has any magical abilities."

"Your job will be to keep any bad guys away from Amana and me, while we are concentrating on our magic."

"That we can do," replied Shari.

"Padrick should have reached, and briefed, Grael by now," said Amana, "time to go to work."

Amana stood up and moved away from the improvised fortifications, in the direction Buffy had indicated the bulk of the demons were located. She stood, feet slightly apart, and braced herself against the wind. She paused, and delved deep within her reserves, to tap the power at her command.

Once she was ready she turned to Buffy, nodded, then turned back to face her opponents, with her arms stretched out before her, and yelled out over the roar of the wind, "ceau o leayrtys!"

Streaks of light sprung from her fingertips and shot into the snow-choked sky. Seconds later they exploded, turning the glow into near sunlit skies, and illuminating the massive demon army, poised to attack the village.

Buffy had watched, waiting, while Amana turned the lights on. When she saw the forces arraigned against the humans she thought to herself, "Oh boy, we could be in a world of pain here."

She didn't, however, allow any thoughts of the opposition arrayed in front of her deter her from what she had planned to do. As soon as the light exploded over the demons Buffy was ready. She took a deep breath, centred herself and yelled out, "bollaghey ni gaarder!"

The effect was instantaneous. Buffy had decided that her best attack was to work with the storm and therefore the spell she had chosen had the effect of strengthening and solidifying the winds facing the demons. The wrinkle was that the wind became a wall, a wall that Buffy was able to move as she willed.

Facing this enhancement to the weather the demons struggled to stay upright, and maintain their footing as the wall of wind came pushing down against them, driving most of them to their knees, and forcing the remainder to move back, away from their points of attack.

Grael attacked as soon as Buffy's wall of wind hit the demons. He created massive rifts in the earth, to swallow the enemy. He then turned vast areas of the ground into liquid earth, stopping, and in some cases drowning, the demons trapped in the area that the spell to effect in.

Amana then counter-punched with bolt after bolt of lightning. She took careful aim at the demons and specifically targeted for attack anyone who looked like they were trying to rally the army, figuring, correctly, that they would be leaders.

The mages at the demon's disposal were totally ineffective against the magical assault. They repeatedly tried to deflect of lessen the effects of the spells directed against their army, only to have their efforts blocked or defeated totally. Soon they were all exhausted and comatose, drained from the effort of trying to match their skill against the power of two experience mages, and the slayer.

The waves of attacks from the three mages continued relentlessly, and now totally unopposed. However, their foes were numerous, and the energy that they had at their disposal was not limitless. Soon the demons began to make headway against the magic being arrayed against them, their leaders were able to gain control over a substantial number of the survivors and they began to move ever closer to the village, and to being able to directly attack the humans who were inflicting so much pain on them.

Buffy saw that the demons would soon be upon them. She turned to Amana and yelled out, "Amana, I'm going to have to go into attack mode, and soon. Stay with Alya and Shari and try to keep the demons from flanking us."

"Your will lady," replied Amana as she quickly returned to the fortifications, to begin to prepare for the upcoming hand-to-hand fight.

Buffy released her control of the wind and steadied herself. She looked deep within herself and said, "Goddess, hear my plea. I beseech the aid of your guardians in this our hour of need. Come to my aid, give strength to my arm, and guide me as I go forth to smite your enemies."

Buffy was deliberately asking to be transformed into the berserker, which she had transformed into the first time that the Goddess had come to her aid. She knew that she would need the fearlessness, and the added adrenaline that the berserk state would give to her for the coming battle.

Just as she was slipping into the mindlessness of the rage she noticed four huge humanoid figures appear behind her, the manifestations of the guardians. She struggled to send one last thought to her lover, $Willow. I'm going into berserk mode, love you,$ and was devastated to not be able to get a reply from her soul mate.

The last conscious thought she had before slipping into a rage was of an incoherent scream of "Willow, where are you," leaving her throat.

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Willow's awareness was not on this world. With the exception of a very small path of energy leading back to the ritual circle she had detached herself from the reality of the world in order to hack into and destroy the demon's transportation network. While her body remained, lifeless, in the centre of the three magical circles, her mind was totally in the magical realm. She therefore could not hear her lover's thoughts, nor hear her strangled cry of loss.

She was in a place that had no reference to time, or space; a place that was without definable borders. She trusted, that as had happened before, Aiofe and Bridie would be able to pull her back to reality, once the job had been finished.

She did not know how long she had been divorced from reality, and had been spending her time examining the various ties that were binding the hell-mouths together. Finally, she thought that she had found a way to break into the network and to hopefully disrupt it for a very long time.

With a quick prayer to herself, "Goddess, aid me now," she began to focus her attention on the network.

Within moments she had broken into the energy path flowing from one hell-mouth to another, thinking, "That was easy, now for the next step," she then backtracked along the path she had left for herself and then expanded it to begin the work of pumping the vast amount of energy she had raised into the demon's network.

"Hope this doesn't take too long," she though as she began to funnel the collected energy into the breach she had created in the demon's network, "I don't think Buffy and the others can possibly hold out much longer."

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Initially the demon leader was stunned by the ferocity of the attack by the three mages. He had known that the one mage he thought they were facing was strong, but he had been totally unprepared for the effect that these other mages were having on his troops.

Quickly regaining his composure he turned to his lieutenants and barked, "Get forward as quickly as you can, and get them back into line and let's get this attack moving. The longer we delay the more damage they are going to be able to do to us."

Inwardly he was seething. He knew that this development was severely impacting on the chances for success, and he knew that failure was not an option. He decided that he would have to move to the vanguard of the attack, and lead his troops by example. He resolved to himself that as soon as he had defeated the puny humans sheltering in this sorry excuse for a town that he would raze it to the ground, and then scatter its ashes to the four corners of the earth.

He moved slowly forward through his demoralized army, trying to install confidence in them as he struggled against the effects of the magic arrayed against the demons.

Finally, as he was approaching the front ranks of the army, the wind died down.

Thinking, "Finally, something is going our way," he looked towards the village that was now the singular object of his anger and loathing. What he saw there caused him to quickly change his mind about things going his way.

"Good Gods of chaos," he said in a half throttled whisper, "what on all of the earths is happening here?"

Four visions from legend had appeared before the army. All four were quasi-humanoid in stature, and stood in excess of four meters. The first had pale, almost translucent, yellow skin, and had the body of a man, with the wings and head of an eagle. The second appeared to have flames for skin, and had the head and wings of a dragon on top of its obviously female body. The third, male in appearance, looked like it had water flowing continuously over, and through, its skin, it stared towards the demons with the predatory glare of its shark like head. The fourth being, this one female, was the most 'normal' of the four. She had a perfectly sculpted, albeit green, body, and what appeared to be mottled green-brown leafs continuously falling from her head.

In front of the four figures of legend, and almost un-noticed, was a fifth person. This one, however, the demon lord knew.

"Gods, the slayer," he whispered. He then noticed that several of the humans who were fighting, and easily defeating, his forces appeared to also be slayers.

"This is not good," he said, "The cursed slayer has recruited others."

Just then he watched as the slayer drew forth a sword from her body, and with an incomprehensible scream leaped forward into the front of the demon ranks, just as her sword burst into flame.

As if it was planned, the four guardians chose that moment to step forward towards the demon army, and where they walked the ground trembled in their wake. They paused, just behind the ranks of slayers, as if waiting for the most opportune time to intervene.

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Buffy leaped into the demon army, all rational thought gone from her mind as she was consumed by the berserker rage, and the thought that she had lost her soul-mate. She attacked relentlessly, without heed for her personal welfare. She began by cutting a wide swath through the front ranks of the demon army, and then continued towards the western edge of the town, towards the inn and where Willow was conducting the ritual. It was as if, even in her mindless state, Buffy wanted to be where her lover was, if only to confirm her fate. As had happened before, Buffy was almost untouchable, nothing the demons tried seemed to stop, or even for that matter slow her down.

The other slayers and the guardsmen wasted no time in launching their own attacks, starting with ranged attacks. There efforts were immediate, as the leading elements of the demon army withered under the onslaught of bolts and arrows. But, for every foe that fell, there was two, or more to replace them. Slowly the demons were able to force their way forward and reach the slayers; then it was down to hand-hand combat.

At that point, the guardians stepped forward once again. This time they didn't pause and they then began to attack the demons directly. They had no weapons to hand but every demon withered and died under their touch. They slowly began to move to the east, away from Buffy; where they went, the demon army collapsed in panic and fled the battlefield.

Over on the other side of the battlefield the fight was not going totally against the demons. They were faced with a berserk slayer, and two mages who were doing their best to keep up with, and support her, but they were better led and were fighting an organized retreat from the slayer. They were trying their best to avoid direct one-to-one fighting with Buffy, knowing that it would futile, and fatal. They were therefore concentrating on mass attacks, hoping that in numbers they would be able to deal blows to the slayer.

The demon lieutenant Tarana saw that her quickly improvised strategy was working. Realizing early in the fight that the overly simplistic plan of her lord was doomed to failure, she decided to leave the battle with as many of her forces intact as possible. Calling upon her reserves she had had them cut a path through the dead and dieing. She was therefore able to maintain order as she moved towards the edge of town, and a chance to escape. She realized that her chance for success increased as long as her forces kept moving, and as long as the manifestations of the guardians stayed away.

Amana, Grael, Padrick, Ayla and Shari were doing their best to keep up with Buffy, and to try to help the slayer in eliminating as many of the demons as they could. The guardsman and the two slayers were able to keep up fairly well with Buffy, and were able to inflict a fair amount of damage themselves, while trying to keep Buffy from being overwhelmed by the mass attacks of demons which were throwing themselves at her in an attempt to inflict more than superficial damage.

However, both Amana and Grael were beginning to fall behind the others. They had both been drained by the magical attacks that they had launched and by their age. Seeing this, a small band of demons broke away from the attacks on Buffy and launched themselves at the two older mages.

Padrick, at a pause in the battle, noticed that neither Amana nor Grael was still with them. He turned around to look for them, only to see them fall under a demon attack.

He yelled to the others, "Alya, Shari, with me. We need to rescue Amana and Grael," before rushing back towards the fallen mages.

Just then, everything and everyone on the battlefield, even it appeared the weather itself, paused.

The demon leader thought to himself, just as a guardian reached out for him, "Gods, now what could be happening to us now?"

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Willow, totally unaware of the battle raging just outside of the village was busy funnelling the energy she had collected into the demon network she had hacked into. Thinking to herself, "this is taking way too long. I only hope that I got it right, and that I was able to get enough energy to do the job," she continued her efforts, anxiety evident in everything she was doing. Willow was keenly aware that this was her only shot at crashing the demon's transportation system. Given that the village was under attack she knew that she would most likely be dead before have a chance to try a second time.

Willow then began to feel a lessening in the amount of energy she was feeding into the breach. Thinking, "oh no, I'm not going to have enough," she began cast about in her mind for a solution to her problem. She paused and then said, "Goddess, I beseech your aid in my time of need."

Suddenly there were winds, in a realm devoid of an atmosphere. There was sound, where there shouldn't be, and then there was a presence of calm, beauty and serenity.

"Lady," Willow whispered, mentally bowing before the Goddess, "I thank you for your attendance."

"HUSH CHILD," a voice whispered in Willow's mind, "I TOLD YOU I WOULD BE HERE, WHEN YOUR NEED WAS GREATEST.

"I thank you, my lady; I would be lost without you.

"HUSH NOW CHILD. I KNOW OF YOUR NEED, AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE STRENGTH YOU NEED TO FINISH.

"Once again, my lady, all I can offer is my devotion and my thanks.

"YOU ARE A FAVOURED DAUGHTER. WHEN THIS IS OVER LOOK DEEP WITHIN YOURSELF - YOU WILL FIND THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTIONS YOU HAVE, AND WILL ASK."

With that, enigmatic, comment the presence left Willow's mind and the magical realm. Willow then realized that the flow of energy she was directing to the demon's network had regained, even surpassed, its former strength.

"Wow," she thought, "when She delivers, She really delivers."

Suddenly the texture and nature of the network began to change before her eyes. It began to pulsate and twist, almost as if it was a creature in pain. "That's it," Willow thought, "I think that I've got the loop going. It is time to get out of Dodge City."

She paused for just a second longer, to reassure herself that things were indeed working the way that she had hoped, and then called out, "Aiofe, Bridie!"

In the circle, the two junior mages heard Willow's call, they paused for a moment, each review what she needed to do next, before answering, why simultaneously mentally casting the required spell, "Willow, return to us. Return to our existence and to your body."

Willow travelled back through the tenuous link she had maintained with her body and re-established consciousness within her body.

Just as she stood up, and was turning to address the mages, stillness descended upon the room and the working circles. Willow said, "look sharp folks, something is about to happen."

"Meow," said a very happy familiar. She had been aware that her human was 'away' since she had not had contact with her, and was now relived to see that Willow had returned.

Willow picked up Shadow-Cat and cuddled her for a moment saying, "Did you miss me sweetie? Its ok, everything is going to be ok now."

Just as Willow finished speaking there was a monumental eruption in the mountains surrounding the village as well as a corresponding disturbance in the magical realm. Willow's plan to cause a feedback loop had worked, and the hell-mouths, attacked from within, had been simultaneously destroyed throughout the world. The effects of her spell were not only felt on this world; the reverberations echoed from world to world, causing substantial damage to the transportation network on many of them.

The effects were substantial. Throughout the world demons collapsed unconscious in pain, and remained out for several hours and in some cases for days. The explosions, which closed the hell-mouths, had also caused substantial damage to the area surrounding them, fortunately by this time there was little human habitation left near any of them, and therefore only demons were caught up in the backlash.

Daithi, and the rest of the slayers and guardsmen realized what had happened. As soon as the reverberations shaking the mountains ceased they picked themselves up and noticed that the demons were all out could, and that the guardians had disappeared.

Daithi ran over to where Padrick, Shari and Alya were trying to bind the wounds of the two senior mages, in an almost futile attempt to stop the bleeding. They picked up the mages in improvised litters and started to take them back to the inn, where they hoped that Willow and Buffy would be able to help in any way.

Buffy regained her mental composure just as the explosion struck. She looked around at the damage, at the out cold demons, before noticing the numerous healed wounds on her body.

Thinking, "I must have been healing myself as I was attacking," she began to move towards the two litters being carried by Daithi, Padrick and the others.

$Willow, are you there,$ she thought plaintively, hoping that her fears from earlier were groundless.

$Yes love, how are you?$

$I'll live, you,$ replied the slayer, the relief obvious in her thoughts.

$I guess, but don't ask me to do too much for the next while. What's up, you sounded so tense?$

$I lost contact with you earlier, just before I went berserk. I thought that I had lost you.$

$Must have been when I was detached, in the magical realm. I'm sorry I didn't warn you in advance.$

$Its ok, you had things on your mind.$

$See you soon, I promise to kiss and make up.$

$Yeah, look forward to that.$ Buffy looked around at the carnage, $boy, we did a number on them.$

$Yes?$

$Oh yeah, there are demon bits, and out-cold demons everywhere.$

$Don't dally, I need you.$

$Only a minute or so, I'll just check out what Padrick and Daithi are up to, and I'll hold you to your promise.$

$If I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?$

At that moment Buffy came up to the two guardsmen and saw who was injured and cried out $Willow! Amana and Grael have been injured.$

$Bad?$

$Very. Finish up as fast as you can, and let's see if we can help. They are being taken back to the inn. Even if we don't have all that much energy left, we might be able to do something.$

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Three hours later Buffy stood up from a table in the inn's common room, which had become an improvised infirmary, and turned to Willow.

"They're stable, but it won't last for long, maybe a day or so."

"I know, but neither of us has enough energy, or skill to do much more for them. There's massive internal damage." Willow sat down at an empty table and began to mechanically eat some of the food that had been laid out.

"Even if we regain our strength tomorrow," added Buffy, joining her spouse, "I don't know if we will be able to do much more for them. This is one time that magic is not going to replace modern medical knowledge."

"I know," sighed Willow, "I just wish that..."

"Me too. If only they had not tried to follow me, once I went berserk. They should have stayed back."

"No, love," replied the arch-mage, "I should have insisted that they stay with me for the ritual."

"Stop it, both of you," said Aiofe, as she and Bridie, along with two very hungry little girls, sat down at the table.

"They both knew what they were doing," added Bridie as she passed Kendra over to her mother, "they knew the risks, and besides, without them adding to your attack Buffy we might not have had the time to complete the ritual."

"It was a close thing," agreed the slayer, receiving her daughter from Aiofe, "I... oh I don't know. It's just not fair for them to not be here to celebrate."

"Well," said Willow, with a content daughter to the breast, "they're not dead yet. Maybe, after a good night's sleep we'll think of something."

"You have to agree," commented Aiofe, "that all in all things have gone very well."

"Yes, but," said Willow.

"No buts." Interjected Bridie. "Earlier today everyone would have given odds that most of us wouldn't be here this afternoon. With the exception of Amana and Grael, and a couple of the other slayers with bumps and minor cuts, we haven't suffered any major damage."

"In fact," continued Aiofe, "we probably had more damage from the storm than from the demons."

"Speaking of everyone else," asked Buffy, suddenly noticing the near empty inn, "where is everyone?"

"Yeah," added Willow, the tiniest hint of concern in her voice.

"Well," replied Aiofe, "the villagers are busy rounding up their livestock and getting on with their lives."

"The mages are resting, your little spell took a lot out of them," said Bridie.

"And, the other slayers and the guardsmen..." added Aiofe.

"And?" probed Buffy.

"Well," replied Bridie, "they are busy disposing of the demons."

"I guess," said Willow, "that that's definitely a needed chore, and we can't have them coming to, knowing what they know about us, and this village."

"Needed," said Daithi entering the common room, "but very, very messy."

"I bet," said Buffy, placing Faith on her shoulder for the post-feeding burp, "get them all?"

"Yep, not that there were too many left alive. We also brought one back," said the guardsman, "I thought it best to save one for you."

"Why's that," asked a confused slayer, "I got enough during the battle, at least I think I did."

"This one looks like a leader type," replied Daithi, "maybe the leader."

"That is a different story," said Willow, beginning to return to leader mode, "give us a few minutes to get the kids and the wounded out of here and then bring him in."

A half-hour later Daithi led into the common room a very distressed demon leader, supported by Padrick and Sonya. The former commander of the demon army was in very bad shape. He had barely avoided being drained of life by one of the guardians, only as a result of the hell-mouth being closed. However, the reprieve from death was only temporary; he did not have much more than a couple of days, at the most, left on this earth.

"So there's the mighty slayer," he rasped as he collapsed on the floor, defiant even in death. "Kill me and be done with it."

"Oh," replied Buffy, unwilling to rise to the bait, "you'll die, but we need to ask you a few questions first."

"I'm already dead," said the demon, as he began to cough up great amounts of yellow-green phlegm, "so why would I bother answering any of your questions?"

"Oh," answered Willow, "you are dying, we know that."

"But," added her lover, "it's the way you die - we can address that." Buffy stood up and walked over to the demon. She leaned over him and then whispered, "You could die, slowly, painfully over the next day or so. Or I could end it quick."

"Or," added Willow, "if you don't cooperate we could let you go. To go back to your master and report failure."

"I'm certain that your boss would just love to hear, first hand, about your failure," said Buffy, returning to the table. "So, now, what's it going to be?"

"Oh," wheezed the demon, "you make my choice very clear, painfully so. I'll answer your questions, but my revenge will be that you won't like them, nor be able to do anything about it."

$What do you think he's talking about,$ asked Buffy.

$Don't know, unless it's about what Hugh alluded to.$

$You're probably right,$ Buffy then addressed the demon, "spill. What was your minion Hugh talking about when he was going on about slayers?"

"Yes," added Willow, "just what did he mean by the demon leadership taking steps to eradicate slayers generations before they planned to conquer the world?"

"Ah," said the demon, his breathing laboured, "concern about your home world." Seeing the surprise in Buffy and Willow's eyes he continued, "oh yes, Hugh was very talkative before he... passed away. He told me all about the travels that the two of you have gone through."

"Spill," said Buffy again, steel ringing in her voice, "or I'll just leave you to die like the dog you are."

"Oh, I'll talk." The demon rose up to his feet and dragged himself onto a chair, "don't mind if I sit, do you? Now, where was I, oh yes, slayers."

The demon Talaker then began to relate the history between the demon hierarchy and slayers. He began by commenting that the demon alliance against what he termed human pests had held for over 400 generations, and that they had never been seriously challenged, except by slayers. He stated that the common wisdom amongst the demons was that slayers were humanities defensive gesture against the might of the demons, and that if they weren't dealt with promptly on a target world that the demons chances for success were very limited.

He added that a world's slayers, if left unchallenged, would become an unbeatable force for good. He also confirmed that the highest priority the demon leadership gave to a target world was the containment, then elimination of the slayers.

He paused for a moment, rasping for breath, and his voice nearly mute with pain. While he drank from the pitcher of water offered to him Buffy commented to her lover, $Red, if even half what he says is true, its very bad news.$

$I agree, but what really gets me is this business about slayers, plural. We've, or rather, you've always been told that there can only be one slayer.$

$We knew that was bogus, even before we came here. Remember Kendra, and Faith - there were periods of time back home with multiple slayers.$

$And a remarkable lack of concise answers from the counsel.$

$Well, they've never been 'keen' on giving us poor slayers any answers, remember?$

$You're right. Now lets see if we can get some more out of this piece of dog meat, before you put him out of his misery.$

"Now," continued the arch-mage, "if you are ready to continue, just what do you mean by containment and elimination of slayers?"

"Oh, you mean how we get rid of the threat your lover, and her kin, poses to us," sneered the demon.

He then went on to describe the battles that the demons had fought in the past against slayers. How thousands upon thousands of demons would die, in a vain attempt to eliminate the slayer, for it had seemed that for every slayer who fell, two would arise in her place.

Finally, he indicated, the demon leadership determined that the only way to defeat slayers was from within.

"First," he said, "we curtailed our activities on a world, so that demons become legendary, almost laughed at. Then we isolate the slayers, by setting up organizations who have the avowed purpose of 'helping, and training' the slayers. In reality, they were, and are, our agents working to further marginalize slayers in society."

"The counsel," whispered Buffy.

"Yes," said the demon lord, chuckling as he did so, "your precious counsel. And what is just perfect is that even though you have defeated our plans for this world, and you know the threat we pose to yours, there is nothing you can do to save your own world."

With that the demon lord took one of his razor sharp talons and ripped open his own throat, "you'll get nothing more from me," he said as he breathed his last.

"NO," screamed Buffy.

$Buffy, settle down!$

$Our world is doomed - how can I settle down?$

$It's not doomed, love, trust me - and don't believe a work that scum said about us not being able to get home.$

"Now, continued the arch-mage, enveloping her lover in a hug, "I think a little celebration is in order, given the double significance of this day."

"Huh," replied Buffy, "what do you mean?"

"Buffy, don't you remember what day this is?"

"Should I," replied the slayer.

"Candlemass," whispered Aiofe.

"Exactly," replied the arch-mage, "it was a year ago tonight that we arrived on this world."

"You're right," replied Buffy, after thinking for a second, "how is that part of a celebration for tonight?"

"Well," continued Willow, "we have a number of things to celebrate tonight. First is our salvation from the demons. Second, we have the feast of Imbolg to do. Finally, we have to give our thanks for the last year, and the blessings that have come to us, thanks to Her favour."

$There have been a few, haven't there been?$

$Yes love,$ replied Willow, $there have been.$

Willow then proceeded to get the rest of the day organized. She sent Aiofe off to the kitchens, to have the cooks prepare a celebratory meal. Bridie was sent to round up the other mages, to let them know that there would be a full Imbolg ritual that night. Daithi and Padrick were sent into town, to invite all of the villages to the inn for the meal, and the ritual.

Soon it was evening. In every window of every building there were lighted candles and lanterns. The town had cleaned up as much of the damage that they could in the time available, and had set the hundreds of demon bodies on a pyre that lit the sky for miles around. Everyone had had an excellent meal and was relaxing, waiting until it was time for the Imbolg ritual. Many of the residents of the village were in the common room of the inn, intending to take part in the evening's festivities.

Willow, Buffy, Aiofe and Bridie were seated in comfortable chairs before the cheery fire in the common room, relaxing until it was time to start the ritual. Both Aiofe and Bridie eyes were half closed, the combination of the day's exertions, with the advanced state of their pregnancies, was having a very soporific effect on the young women. Buffy was sitting, staring into the fire, and enjoying a brandy while she fed her daughter. Willow was also feeding Kendra, and absently petting Shadow-Cat, who was curled up on her lap.

Out of the blue, Willow sat up straighter in her chair, dislodging her familiar, and her daughter in the process. "Damn," she said, "didn't want to do that."

"Do what," asked her lover, "coming back from her wool-gathering."

"I think I have a solution to solving Amana and Grael's injuries."

"Say what," asked a semi-conscious Bridie, as she rubbed sleep from her eyes, "what do you mean by solving their injuries?"

"Simple," replied Willow, "we bring them home, and get them the specialized medical treatment they need."

"Now, I'm confused," said Buffy, "just how are we going to get home. Amana and Grael are both out for the count."

"It's like this, lover," replied her spouse, giving Buffy a quick, feather light kiss, "Amana told me all about the ritual that brought us here, and tonight is one of the best nights for it."

"And," added Bridie, suddenly alert and cognisant of the import of Willow's idea, "Aiofe, Frankel and I were at the ritual last year."

"And," continued Aiofe, "we have all the mages we need for the work."

"So, do you understand," said Willow, the eagerness evident in her voice.

"So, we can go home," replied the slayer, "when did this idea come to you?"

"While I was mentally reviewing what that scum prattled on about earlier today," replied Willow, "remember that the Goddess came to me, and said that I would find the answers within me?"

"Yes, but," said Buffy, "what answers, and to what questions?"

"The questions and problems we both have been having. The homesickness we've had, and the worry that we've had over our friends and family. Not to mention finding a way to heal Amana and Grael."

"Okay," said Buffy, "we can go home. Just how do we do it, and what does it mean for the rest of the evening?"

"Well," replied Aiofe, "if it's anything like last time, a lot of work."

"And a very short time to do it in," said Bridie.

"Well," said Willow, "lots of work or not, it's what we're going to do. So, find Frankel, and let's get the mages working on what we are going to do. Buffy, you get some of the villagers to clear out this room; we'll do the ceremony here."

Three hours later everything was ready. The common room had been cleared and scrubbed. The ritual circle had been marked on the floor, waiting for the final symbols to be inscribed. The mages had all had their ritual baths and were assembled together, dressed in their working robes over their heavy winter clothing, waiting for the work to begin. Willow, Frankel and Aiofe had spent the better part of an hour working out the details of the transportation ritual with the other mages. Now Willow was sitting with her command group, working out the final details of the evening's work.

"Ok," she said, "we have about an hour to go, and this is how I think we should do the work tonight. First, we go ahead with the regular working for tonight. Then, we will do the transfer spell. Hopefully I'll be able to contact Susan or Carol, or maybe even Giles and they will be able to complete the counter-point spell back home."

"If not," asked Aiofe, "what then?"

"Well," replied Willow, carefully choosing her words, "when I talked to Grael about this, a couple of months ago, he thought that if needed I would be able to cast the spell myself, given that my, and Buffy's, essence resonates from our world. The difference would, he thought, be enough to force the completion of the transfer spell."

"Rather not to have to trust to mage musings," said Buffy, "let's hope that you can contact someone back home."

"I agree," said Willow, "now, to something very important."

$What's that love?$

$Shush, dear, don't be rude, we've talked about this.$

"That is," continued the arch-mage, "who comes with us?"

"What do you mean," asked Aiofe.

"Well," answered Buffy, who had clued into what Willow had been thinking, "both Willow and I are now deeply attached to you and Bridie, so, if you were willing, we would be happy to have you come along."

"That goes for the rest of you also," said Willow turning to Frankel, Daithi and Sonya, "it goes without saying that the children and Amana and Grael will be coming."

The other members of Willow's command team were speechless. They had known that their leader would be taking the two gravely ill mages with her, however, they had not conceived of the idea of their going along.

After a few minutes, Frankel stood up and said, "Willow, Buffy, thank you for your kind offer, however, with both Amana and Grael gone I think that it would be best for me to stay back. There are still a lot of demons around, and we are going to have to do a lot of work to rebuild the mage's counsel."

Sonya turned to her friends and mentors and then said, "Likewise, I cannot take you up on your fine offer. I, rather we are going to be sorely needed for the conceivable future. I can't leave them."

"I understand, and agree, with how both of you feel," said Willow, "Daithi, how about you?"

"I sorry, Lady," said the guardsman, "I would love to see and experience your world, but my place is here, rebuilding this one. I do not wish you to think that I think you should stay, I know that you must go home, but I must remain."

"Thank you," said Buffy, "for everything. We would have been lost without your support."

Everyone turned to Aiofe and Bridie, who had remained in silent contemplation until that point not looking at anyone, even each other. Bridie looked up at her lover, and saw her answer mirrored in her eyes. She whispered softly, "we'll go. Both of us have become very close to you, and we would be lost without you."

Willow and Buffy stood up from the table and went over to the friends and lovers and embraced them. Buffy whispered, "thank-you, thank-you for agreeing to come, we would also have been lost if you had not."

"Lady," said Sonya, once Willow had regained her seat, "there is one thing I would ask of you."

"Anything," replied Willow, "I'll do anything that time and my powers permit."

"I would ask you to take Sam with you," replied Sonya, "with what I'm called to do, and the risk that that duty entails, I would not be able to provide for her properly."

"No problem, from my perspective," said Willow, "but would she agree?"

"I think yes. She has no family left here, and staying would only bring back painful memories of how they were slaughtered. Maybe if she goes, her nightmares would also."

"Well," said Buffy, "go ask her. If she agrees, pack some personal items, no clothing, and we'd be happy to take her."

"That goes for you two also," added Willow, addressing Bridie and Aiofe, "go, you have twenty minutes to get packed and get back here."

"Frankel," said Buffy, "I'd ask that you and Sonya do the same for Amana and Grael. Pack their personal books and keepsakes, but nothing else."

Finally everything and everyone was ready. The symbols had been marked on the floor, the watchtowers lit. Amana, Grael, the children, Sam and even Shadow-Cat were all in the circle, before the altar, waiting for the second part of the nights work.

Willow took one final look around, reassured herself that everything was in place, and then started the evenings work with, "Blessed be."

"Blessed be," replied the assembled mages, and the villagers who were watching the evening's events.

"We have come to this time and to this place," said Willow, "to celebrate the impending birth of spring.

"It is the time of year that we celebrate initiations and rebirths, and tonight we give thanks for our salvation.

"We have also gathered tonight to bid farewell. Buffy and I will be taking our leave from your community to return to our own world. For we have found that although we have struck a mighty blow against the enemies of mankind today, those same enemies still threaten our home and world. Therefore, we must return, to do what we can to help.

"We are also going to bring with us our friends, sorely injured today. They are injured beyond my or my lover's skills to save. The help they need is on our world, and I owe it to them as their friend, and student, to bring them to the medical aid they need.

"Also, two of our company have agreed to come with Buffy and me when we return. They have become very close to both of us over the past year, and their absence from our lives and ours from theirs would be devastating."

Willow paused for a moment then proceeded to work with Frankel in casting the circles, raising the protective sphere and invoking the guardians. She then continued with the rest of the Imbolg ritual, thanking the Goddess for her gifts, and asking for her assistance in the year to come. It was the time to look forward to the promise of spring, and to welcome the Goddess in her role as maiden.

Once the formal, cyclical, portion of the night's work had been completed Willow moved onto the special work that was to be done. She looked around at the group of skilled practitioners assembled and said, "Blessed be."

"Blessed be," they once again replied.

"It is time for departure," said the arch-mage, "time for us to perform the work which will open the portal from this world to mine.

"I wish to take this chance to thank all of you. You have become a community to me, and I sorely wish that I could be both here, and home."

Buffy then addressed the assembly by saying, "I too am going to miss you all. I've come to see many of you as family, and I will always think of this place as a home."

On Willow's signal the mages then began the complex chant that would, the arch-mage hoped, bridge the void between this world and her own. Willow cast out her second site into the void; following the thread of the magic she was weaving to look for her own world. She followed the thread, until it was barely viable, and once she was certain that she had found her home, and had received a confirming signal that she had made contact, she returned to the physical world.

$Found home.$

$Ready for this?$

$Yep. Will miss this place, but our place is at home, especially since we are bringing some of our friends.$

$Mom is going to freak. I've been gone for a year, and I return with a wife, lover, a child and half of another one.$

$I'm going to be so lectured,$ agreed Willow. She took a deep breath then yelled out, "dorrys brishey magh!"

Once again, a blue-rimmed portal of darkness appeared before the altar. Willow sighed with relief and thought, $thank the Goddess, it worked.$

She then looked at the assembled travellers and said, "ok folks, ready to go?"

Everyone picked up his or her belongings. Willow and Buffy had their babies in chest carriers, and they were helping to support the near-comatose Amana and Grael. Aiofe and Bridie were also supporting the two senior mages, while Sam tightly held on to Bridie's free hand. Shadow-Cat had been securely ensconced in Willow's backpack.

As one they stepped into the void, as soon as they did it disappeared in a flash of light.

Once again Buffy and Willow travelled though the vast expense of darkness, before rushing to, and through a blue portal, which had suddenly appeared in the darkness.

"Home," said Buffy, as she looked at the astonished faces surrounding her.

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Back in Willow's workroom, in the California town of Sunnydale, her coven was just winding down from an eventful Imbolg celebration. Suddenly the air above the altar was split with a blue-white bolt of light, which rapidly expanded to portal, larger, by far than the one that had appeared there before.

"What the..." asked Giles, wanting to get the night's work over with, and into a nice warm bed, as soon as possible.

"What are we," said Xander, "portal central?"

The black space in the portal was suddenly filled with bodies, numerous bodies, who were all wearing heavy winter clothing and with packs slung over their shoulders.

Giles looked at the two women in the lead, they were obviously Buffy and Willow, but both women had undergone a massive transformation. Buffy was incredibly muscled, and with a shock of snow-white hair. Willow was also well muscled and her face had the indomitable look of a battle weary leader written over it. More startling, it appeared as if both young women were carrying babies.

Their companions were just as diverse. There were the two older persons, being supported by two very pregnant young women and by a severely emaciated teenaged girl. Everyone looked very tired, and very relieved to set down her burdens.

"Willow," said Giles, "back so soon; you just left."

"Oops," said Willow, "looks like I made a little miscalculation there."

"And what's with the changes in you, and your companions," continued Giles as he watched the four young women rapidly divest themselves of the heavy warm clothing.

"Giles," said Buffy walking towards him, steel in her voice, "you and your damned counsel have a lot to answer for."

"Oh boy," said the watcher, noticing the red sword tattoo which was peeking over the edge of the slayer's shirt.

A/N – just the epilogue to go, thanks to all for reading and for the reviews.


	15. Acta Est Fibula

Disclaimers:

Buffy, Willow and all of the other characters and places from the show are © to Joss Whedon, WB and Mutant Enemy et al. everyone and everything else is mine. None of my characters are meant to resemble anyone living, dead or un-dead, if you see yourself you are looking way too hard.

Please note that this work contains descriptions of sexual acts between consenting adult women. It was written in a jurisdiction where it was legal to do so. If this offends you, don't read.

Please note that things perceived by characters other than by the five acknowledged senses have been enclosed in $$.

Notes: The Latin and Gaelic are mine; I take the responsibility for any Translations of them. In addition, the descriptions of the rituals, spells and other craft work come from my traditions, and may not be familiar to North Americans, so please don't take offence if something described here does not match your traditions or what you think it should.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Ivy, Sam and Bill for their input and suggestions into this while it was still a work in progress; you helped me out of several plot jams. Thanks to my significant other for all of her patience and perseverance. Thanks to my family for putting up with my not being around for great lengths of time. And finally to everyone who read and commented on the draft of this work, their input was more than valuable, it kept me writing.

Thanks for all the reviews.

This is an old story, previously posted on a number of other sites. To meet with admin requirements here the various song lyrics have been removed.

Epilogue - Acta Est Fibula

(The play is over)

On a darkened world, many realities removed from the one which Buffy and Willow just departed, a demon lord sat contemplating the news he had just received.

"What happed," he asked a lieutenant, "how could things have got out of hand so quickly?"

"I don't know my lord," replied the nervous aide, "but the effects have been substantial. We have lost access to that part of the network for at least the next ten generations, and the power supply feeding our worlds, has been diminished by at least fifteen percent."

"I know that fool," replied the lord as he began to pace, "what I don't know, and you had better find out but quick, is how it happened, and, who is responsible."

"Your will lord," replied the demon, as he left his masters presence.

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Deep within the magical realm, which formed part of the void between the various realities, the Goddess though to herself, "Things are going well, but I've had it easy till now. The gods of Chaos will not sit still for much longer as I try to undo their millennia of meddling. Things will start to move quickly now."

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In the town of Morning Breeze the Sage Frankel, the slayer Sonya and the guardsman Daithi were just finishing their early breakfast.

"What now," asked Sonya?

"Now we pack up everyone and head back to the capital, to see if we can rebuild what the demons have destroyed," replied Frankel.

"Then we head out and finish the rest of them off," added Daithi.

"I hope they arrived ok," said Sonya changing the subject.

"I'm sure they did," replied Frankel.

"I'm just thinking," continued the slayer, "that we haven't seen the last of them."

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In a cosy bedroom in the town of Sunnydale, four young women slept intertwined together on a large comfortable bed. They had been so tired after their arrival and after answering countless questions from Buffy and Willow's friends and family that as soon as they got to the room they had collapsed without undressing.

One of the figures detached herself from the others and made her way towards the window, where she stood, staring out at the 'modern' world. She reached out a hand to her lover as she came up quietly beside her. Holding hands they looked out at the world.

$How Willow? How did this happen?$

$I made a booboo, lover.$

$But the whole year gone?$

$Well, not gone, exactly, just not experienced by anyone on this world, that's all.$

Buffy turned from the window and enveloped her lover in a deep embrace, $could you believe the way everyone reacted?$

$I thought mom and dad would have kittens,$ agreed Willow, mentally smiling at the memory.

$And Giles, and the others; I thought that they would never stop asking questions.$

$At least they let us send Amana and Grael to the hospital, without too many questions, first.$

$I don't think they're done with in inquisition yet.$

$No kidding,$ agreed Willow, $just think, you haven't had to deal with your mother yet.$

$Maybe this is all just a dream,$ said Buffy hopefully.

Just then the two women heard the whimpers and cries of two hungry, wet daughters.

$Guess not,$ said the arch-mage, "time to tend to the children."

Hand in hand the two lovers made their way into the rest of their lives.

FINIS

A/N – thanks again for all of your reviews.

That's it for this one; I hope to soon begin posting the follow on story – Si Vis Amari, Ama (If you want to be loved, love), this will be a cross over with Harry Potter. Needless to say the Buffy part will continue to be AU after season 4 and the Harry Potter portion will be AU after book 6 – that is not to say that some of book 7 will not be used, but do not be surprised if most of it is 'altered'.


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